The Supranational Risk Assessment (SNRA) report, adopted by the European Commission on Friday 28 October, highlights the fact that weaknesses in the identification of beneficial owners remain a significant threat to the financial system. Anonymity therefore remains a critical vulnerability for all sectors and activities.
“The Commission is currently assessing the implementation of national beneficial ownership registers through dedicated questionnaires”, the report says.
The Commission therefore recommends to the Member States close and regular cooperation between the competent authorities in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, financial intelligence units, law enforcement authorities and the private sector.
The report is a tool intended to help Member States identify and address money laundering and terrorist financing risks. However, it shows that most of the recommendations of previous evaluations, including those made in the last SNRA in 2019, have already been implemented. These recommendations included the risks associated with crypto-assets (see EUROPE 13040/29) and online gambling.
In parallel, the European Commission has issued guidance on the use of public-private partnerships (PPPs) to prevent and combat money laundering and terrorist financing. In recent years, PPPs have developed to exchange either strategic information, such as trends in criminal activity, money laundering and terrorist financing risk indicators, or operational information, for example, related to specific cases.
The purpose of the guidance is to improve stakeholders’ general understanding of what PPPs are and to encourage, where possible, their role in effectively combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
For the supranational risk assessment report: https://aeur.eu/f/3ur
See the guidelines on the use of PPPs: https://aeur.eu/f/3us (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)