CPF

Cyprus has further reinforced its system for preventing money laundering and combating terrorist financing, according to the 4th Enhanced Follow-up Report published on Wednesday by Moneyval.
The island is now rated “largely compliant”.

Moneyval is the Council of Europe’s committee of experts on the evaluation of anti-money laundering measures and the financing of terrorism.

This latest report concludes that Cyprus has made progress to address technical compliance deficiencies related to correspondent banking under the Financial Action Task Force (Fatf) standards.
As a result, its rating for has been upgraded to ‘largely compliant’.

However, in relation to compliance by non-profit organisations “moderate deficiencies persist” that clocks in a rating of ‘partially compliant’, the report said.

The report said the interior ministry had finalised a risk assessment of the non-profit organisation sector in Cyprus, leading to issuance of the terrorist financing risk assessment report in November 2024, which addresses some of the shortcomings identified in this sphere of influence.

The assessment evaluates TF threats by analysing law enforcement data, suspicious transaction reports, open-source intelligence and examines vulnerabilities related to governance, transparency and financial controls.

Overall, out of the 40 recommendations, Cyprus is currently rated as compliant on 16 recommendations, ‘Largely Compliant’ on 22 recommendations and ‘partially compliant’ on two recommendations.
None of the Fatf recommendations are assessed as non-compliant.

“Cyprus will remain under Moneyval’s enhanced follow-up procedure and is expected to report back within two years on further progress made in strengthening its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) system,” the Council of Europe report concluded.

(Source: Cyprus Mail)