Following the peer-to-peer mentoring activities carried out in the framework of the joint European Union and Council of Europe Project against Economic Crime (PECK III), the Council of Europe is actively collaborating with the Central Bank of Kosovo (CBK) to bolster Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) risk-based supervision within the financial sector. 

Through a joint effort with the CBK, the project support and recommendations to shift from rule-based to risk-based supervision resulted in developed innovative supervisory tools needed for conducting both off-site and on-site inspections and assessing risks within financial institutions. 

For this purpose, a two-day workshop was conducted to present the new supervisory approach and tools to financial institutions. The workshop featured a comprehensive presentation on FATF Recommendations 1 and 26, providing participants from the CBK and 11 banks in Kosovo with valuable insights on international developments and benefits of risk-based supervision. In addition, participants learned about the features of the new approach in assessing the risks of financial institutions.

Highlighting the importance of this shift, the Head of AML/CFT Compliance Department at CBK emphasised that transitioning from a rule-based to a risk-based supervision model represents a welcome step and marks a new era in the ongoing endeavours to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism within the financial sector. 

The activity was organised within the framework of the “Project against Economic Crime in Kosovo” (PECK III), jointly funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the latter.