In June 2021, the Council of Europe and the European Commission Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) have officially launched the implementation of four new joint Actions within the “Support to EU Member States in the implementation of reforms under the Technical Support Instrument – 2021: Governance, Public Administration, Financial Sector and Access to Finance”.

As part of the Thematic Area “Financial Sector and Access to Finance”, the Council of Europe through its Economic Crime and Cooperation Division (ECCD) will be supporting four EU Member States (Croatia, Estonia, Portugal and Slovak Republic) in implementing anti-money laundering/countering terrorist financing (AML/CFT) reforms.

In Croatia, the project will support the efforts of the Croatian National Bank (CNB) and the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (Hanfa) to enhance the effectiveness of the AML/CFT regime through strengthening the risk-based AML/CFT supervision in the financial system. The technical assistance will focus on improving risk assessment methodologies and mapping data sources for the introduction of a reporting system to ensure risk profiling. Tailored guidance and recommendations will be provided for the design of supervisory tools, including IT Tools, for both CNB and Hanfa, by contributing to the development of supervisory manuals, as well as to an efficient allocation of resources.

In Estonia, the project will contribute to strengthening the effectiveness of the AML/CFT framework by enhancing the strategic analysis function of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and enabling it to detect and address money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) trends and patterns as well as to guide AML/CFT policymaking. Specific activities will include expert reviews of the legal framework relevant for the functioning of the FIU and access to data related to strategic analysis, awareness-raising activities on different solutions regarding the strategic analysis function of the FIU, as well as the development of the operational protocol for the FIU’s strategic analysis function and its effective implementation.

In Portugal, the project will focus on strengthening the Bank of Portugal (BdP)’s AML/CFT risk-based supervision (RBS) and its consequent supervisory approach. For this purpose, the project will support the BdP in reviewing its current supervisory activities, RBS model, and will update the system for weighing of variables used to inform the RBS process over the respective supervised entities. Furthermore, it will conduct a review of relevant automated exchange mechanisms and database integration in order to focus AML/CFT supervision activities on specific obliged entities in the supervised sector. Guidance will also be provided for the update of sectorial risk assessments including with regard to risks associated with virtual assets.

In Slovak Republic, the project will support the authorities in enhancing the effectiveness of the AML/CFT regime in line with, MONEYVAL recommendations for effective implementation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards and the European Union (EU) anti-money laundering (AML) Directives. Specific areas of focus will include guidance on updating the ML/TF National Risk Assessment (NRA), on producing sectoral risk assessments and providing support in the development of the risk management approach. The project will focus on developing the strategic analytical function of the FIU, enhancing the reliability of the beneficial ownership register and supporting the development of the central bank account register. In addition, the project will aim to strengthen the AML/CFT regulatory and oversight regime, provide advice on increasing the effectiveness of inter-agency cooperation as well as on capacity building aimed at enhancing effectiveness of financial investigations and the application of confiscation measures.

In the implementation of these four new initiatives, the ECCD will make sure to take stock of the achievements and lessons learnt from the implementation of the ongoing 2020 CoE/EU Structural Reform Support Programme initiatives for Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic and Romania. Moreover, the Division will ensure the creation of synergies, by encouraging the exchange of experiences among Member States, between the project beneficiary institutions.