Tabakovic: Serbia has made enormous progress in AML/CFT

BELGRADE - Serbia has made enormous progress in anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), National Bank of Serbia (NBS) Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic said on Thursday at an event that officially marked the beginning of an international assessment of Serbia’s AML/CFT system within the sixth round of mutual evaluations launched by Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering watchdog.

Tabakovic said AML/CFT was a continuous process that depended on all stakeholders in the system.

"The fact that our regulations and practice are compliant with international recommendations does not mean we should not be upholding and advancing the system’s effectiveness, as a key precondition for financial system integrity and stability," Tabakovic said.

"As one of the pillars of the preventive part of the system, the NBS provides full support to all system participants both by supervising financial institutions and by maintaining relevant databases and registers," the NBS said in a statement.

The conference was also addressed by Zeljko Radovanovic, Director of the Administration for Prevention of Money Laundering, as well as, via a video-link, by Moneyval Vice-Chair Astghik Karamanukyan.

"The aim of this gathering is to ensure the harmonisation of all standards in the AML/CFT field, some of which were modified since the latest evaluation, to present the FATF methodology and explain the Moneyval’s approach.

The representatives of the Moneyval Secretariat also attended in order to provide all necessary clarifications and share their knowledge and experiences relevant for the oncoming evaluation.

More than sixty representatives of the private sector and the Republic of Serbia’s institutions took part – from the competent ministries and administrations, through prosecutor’s offices and courts, to the supervisory authorities, i.e. the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering and the NBS, which actively participate in presenting the effectiveness and compliance of our AML/CFT system with the relevant standards," the central bank said.

"After Moneyval’s December 2023 meeting and the confirmation of compliance of our system with the FATF Recommendation 15 on new technologies and virtual assets, Serbia received recognition of the compliance of its regulations and practices with all 40 FATF recommendations, which is a result achieved by only a dozen other jurisdictions in the world at the moment," it also said.