In a report published today, MONEYVAL calls on San Marino’s authorities to improve the regulatory framework and to strengthen the practical application of measures to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism. Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body draws up a comprehensive assessment of the country’s level of compliance with the Recommendations by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
MONEYVAL compliments the overall framework and practical actions in place for international co-operation, which enables San Marino to provide generally timely and constructive mutual legal assistance. MONEYVAL acknowledges also that the country demonstrated a substantial level of effectiveness in national anti-money laundering and combating of terrorist financing policies and co-ordination, financial intelligence, confiscation and terrorist financing investigating and prosecution. The report finds that further improvements are needed in enhancing supervision, preventative measures related to transparency of legal persons and legal arrangements, money laundering investigation and prosecution and financial sanctions for terrorist financing.
San Marino should establish and apply a criminal justice policy on investigating and prosecuting money laundering of the widest range of foreign predicates and where the country runs the risk of being involved across several stacked jurisdictions. Proactive parallel money laundering investigations should be actively promoted and conducted as a policy objective. A solution should be found for the lack of prisons’ capacity.
Moreover, appropriate initiatives need to be taken, in line with the national risk assessment, to ensure that all private sector categories conduct proper regular checks of their business-specific money laundering and terrorist financing risks. Competent authorities should also heighten the understanding of the private sector and their controls in relation to implementation of customer due diligence and targeted financial sanctions. More guidance needs to be provided on suspicious transactions where reporting appears not to be commensurate with the risks.
San Marino should enhance market entry controls to prevent criminals from potentially holding a management function in designated non-financial businesses and virtual assets’ service providers. For financial institutions, the country should clarify the internal procedures of the Central Bank in relation to checking association with criminals. The application of the risk-based approach in supervisory activities should also be reinforced together with relevant remedial activities and sanctions available to the national Financial Intelligence Agency.
The Financial Intelligence Agency should intensify its work on strategic analysis of specific money laundering trends, patterns and complex money laundering schemes where San Marino might be used as one of the several jurisdictions to launder money. Awareness training should be stepped up.
Finally, the report states also that San Marino should implement procedures to ensure a better access to basic information of trusts and to ensure that beneficial ownership information held for all types of legal persons and arrangements is accurate and up to date.
San Marino will be subject to MONEYVAL’s regular follow-up reporting process as a result of the positive report, becoming one of only five member-jurisdictions with this outcome so far.
