MONEYVAL: Europe needs effective implementation of standards to counter money laundering and terrorist financing

The Council of Europe's MONEYVAL Committee has called on its 33 member states and territories to improve the effective implementation of international standards on combatting money laundering, the funding of terrorism and of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

In its annual report for 2023, MONEYVAL provides a comprehensive overview of the compliance trends in the states and jurisdictions subject to its evaluation procedures. It acknowledges that MONEYVAL member states and jurisdictions are making progress in certain areas, including understanding money laundering and terrorist financing risks, international cooperation and the use of financial intelligence. However, major improvements are still needed in the supervision of the financial sector, private sector compliance, transparency of legal persons, and the implementation of targeted sanctions for the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Although MONEYVAL countries have comprehensive legal frameworks and powers to prosecute money laundering, the report stresses that many struggle to achieve positive results in prosecuting and convicting perpetrators. Regarding the confiscation of criminal assets, the results remain modest and constitute an area for concern.

Nicola Muccioli, Chair of MONEVYAL, said: "Despite progress over the years, significant additional efforts are needed to counter money laundering and terrorist financing. Most countries are not yet effectively tracing and recovering criminal assets and are challenged in matching the speed and sophistication of criminals' methods".

"The launch of MONEYVAL's 6^th evaluation round will allow us to strengthen further the focus on monitoring the real effectiveness of the legal frameworks in place to combat the major risks of money laundering and terrorist financing. We can only make progress in fighting these crimes if the legislation and practices are implemented in practice".

Press release