According to the recently published follow-up report by the Council of Europe’s MONEYVAL, Albania has made significant improvements in its measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. However, the report also highlights the need for further action.
As an EU candidate country, Albania has been on the FATF grey list since 2020. Nonetheless, the report indicates that Albania has enhanced its compliance with recommendations related to transparency, beneficial ownership, and the regulation of non-financial businesses and professions. Consequently, its rating has been upgraded from partially compliant to largely compliant.
MONEYVAL acknowledges that Albania has taken measures to address critical deficiencies, such as extending anti-money laundering (AML) requirements to trustees and improving access to beneficial ownership information for authorities. The country has also strengthened regulations and supervision concerning notaries and real estate agents, allowing for the revocation of licenses in case of AML violations.
In terms of compliance, Albania is now rated as fully compliant in six recommendations, largely compliant in 31 recommendations, and partially compliant in one recommendation. The country is required to provide progress reports to MONEYVAL within the next two years.
In March, the ruling Socialist Party introduced proposed amendments to AML laws, including changing the name of the General Directorate of Money Laundering Prevention to the Financial Intelligence Agency. This change grants the agency separate status from the civil service and introduces a new salary scale comparable to the judicial system.
Other amendments facilitate investigations into cryptocurrency usage, currency exchange, and the tracking of IP addresses associated with such transactions. The Financial Intelligence Agency would be authorized to request data and documentation from telecom operators to aid in subscriber and customer identification. Operators would be obligated to respond within ten days, with even shorter response times in urgent cases, under the risk of penalties.
Despite some progress, Albania’s overall risk of money laundering remains relatively high, ranking worst among its regional counterparts. In a ranking of 128 countries, Albania placed 74th, scoring 4.92 out of ten, with zero representing the lowest risk. Kosovo scored 4.14, Serbia 4.87, North Macedonia 3.94, and Montenegro 3.99. Nearby EU member states, Greece and Italy, also received low scores of 3.7 and 4.55, respectively.
Since 2020, the FATF has recognized Albania’s efforts to enhance its AML/CFT regime, including an increase in the number of money laundering cases prosecuted, especially those involving foreign offenses with laundered proceeds in Albania. However, the FATF recently stated that although Albania has made significant progress in addressing strategic deficiencies, it falls short of the requirements to be removed from the grey list.
