Republic of Cyprus advances AML & CTF Compliance level, says Moneyval

The Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) is a permanent monitoring body of the Council of Europe, which assesses States’ compliance with principal international standards to counter money laundering and terrorist financing.

In addition, Moneyval is entrusted with the task of assessing the above-mentioned standards’ implementation in the States concerned and to make appropriate recommendations to their respective national authorities with the aim of strengthening their systems’ ability to combat money laundering and terrorist financing more efficiently and effectively.

The advancement of Cyprus

In its initial mutual evaluation report made in 2019, Moneyval concluded that the Republic of Cyprus was in compliance, or in large compliance accordingly, with 37/40 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations.

In its December 2021 follow-up report published on 13 January 2022, Moneyval has found Cyprus to be compliant with all 40 FATF Recommendations and, in particular, “largely compliant” with 20 Recommendations, “compliant” with 16 Recommendations, and “partly compliant” with 4 Recommendations. Notably, Moneyval has concluded that Cyprus has zero “non-compliant” ratings.

In a subsequent Press Release issued by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus Representative, Mr. Marios Pelekanos, the Government greeted Moneyval’s follow-up report and its findings, noting that “everything that is recorded in the follow-up report of Moneyval, constitutes an additional proof of the correctness and effectiveness of the measures taken by the Government, in order to enhance the framework for the combatting of money laundering and terrorist financing.”