The Financial Action Task Force has made an initial determination that Monaco has substantially completed the action plan it was set in 2024, paving the way for an on-site assessment of the Principality’s anti-money laundering reforms.
The finding came at the FATF’s June Plenary, held in Paris from 15th to 19th June, where the watchdog adopted Monaco’s fourth progress report since the action plan was drawn up. Monaco made a high-level political commitment in June 2024 to work with the FATF and Moneyval to strengthen its AML/CFT regime, and the FATF said it has now made the “initial determination that Monaco has substantially completed its action plan and warrants an on-site assessment”.
The assessment will verify that implementation of the reforms “has begun and is being sustained”, and that the political commitment behind them “remains in place to sustain implementation in the future”.
Six reforms cited by the watchdog
The FATF credited Monaco with six specific reforms: strengthening its understanding of the risks tied to money laundering and income tax fraud committed abroad; a sustained increase in outbound requests to identify and seize criminal assets held overseas; tougher sanctions for AML/CFT breaches and for failures to meet basic information and beneficial ownership requirements; completion of its resourcing programme for the Financial Intelligence Unit alongside improved quality and timeliness of suspicious transaction reporting; greater judicial efficiency, including additional resources for investigative judges and prosecutors and more dissuasive sanctions for money laundering; and an increase in the seizure of property suspected to derive from criminal activity.
The Principality’s own account of the process credits the progress to closer cooperation between Monegasque authorities, coordinated through the Committee for Coordination and Monitoring of the National Strategy on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism, Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Corruption. The committee, which answers to the Minister of State, has been supported since August 2024 by a dedicated permanent secretariat.
On-site visit to follow
An on-site assessment is required before the FATF’s preliminary finding can be confirmed. The visit, for which no date has yet been set, will examine whether Monaco’s reforms have moved beyond legislation and resourcing to become embedded, sustained practice within the relevant institutions.
In a statement, the Prince’s Government thanked the FATF for the quality of its discussions with Monegasque authorities throughout the process, and also acknowledged the support of the Moneyval Committee.
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Phot credit: Cassandra Tanti