Council of Europe Economic Crime and Cooperation Division (ECCD), in cooperation with the Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) of the European Commission, is currently supporting the Slovak Republic in reviewing its Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (ML/TF) National Risk Assessment (NRA) report, including the methodological framework and tools it is based on.
In order to set the base for the NRA review, the ECCD has organised an online preparatory meeting with the Slovak authorities with the aim of clarifying the national context, areas of concern, further needs and stakeholders’ expectations with regard to the review and follow-up technical assistance. The meeting’s conclusions were used in the development of a Technical Paper containing key findings and recommendations for enhancing not only the assessment procedure, but also the interagency cooperation, as a crucial element for monitoring the Anti-Money Laundering/Counter the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) system and data collection.
Upon the finalisation of the abovementioned Technical Paper, the ECCD organised an online workshop with the aim of discussing the findings and recommendations noted in the NRA review. The event was held on 7 February 2022 and brought together representatives of competent Slovak authorities involved in the NRA process, such as: the Financial Intelligence Unit, the Criminal Bureau of the Police Force Presidium, the General Prosecutor's Office, the National Bank and the Ministry of Justice.
The workshop was divided into two sessions. The first session was focused on the presentation of findings and recommendations provided within the Technical Paper. The document included an in-depth analysis of the NRA process and the of the NRA report of the Slovak Republic with an emphasis on the understanding of risk, the ownership of the NRA process, the comprehensiveness of sources of information necessary for conducting the NRA process, the vulnerabilities’ assessment and terrorist financing risk analysis, as well as with regard to strategic steps to be taken following the NRA process. The second part of the workshop was dedicated to the presentation of the Council of Europe AML/CFT NRA Methodology. Slovak authorities could thus benefit from an overview of the Methodology, including on its organisational and analytical framework, key principles and elements of added value that differentiate it from other existing methodologies.
Besides serving as a platform for discussing the key elements of the NRA process, the workshop aimed at enhancing the Slovak authorities’ understanding of the necessary stages for conducting a comprehensive NRA and is thus an important step towards enhancing their understanding of the ML/TF risks with the aim of better informing policy development and undertaking appropriate mitigation measures.
The activity was organised within the framework of the Technical Support Instrument project “Enhancing the effectiveness of the anti-money laundering framework in Slovak Republic” funded by the European Commission Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.