Anti-Money Laundering Compliance

The Department of Finance has published Ireland's first Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (ML/TF) National Risk Assessment (NRA).  This NRA identifies and assesses the ML/TF risks faced by Ireland.  It identifies the nature and scale of criminal conduct in Ireland which generates illicit proceeds. It then examines the vulnerabilities and ML/TF risks across different aspects of the financial and professional services sectors giving each area an overall risk rating. The NRA is intended to provide the basis for an Action Plan, which, together with the feedback from the FATF Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) and the transposition of the Fourth Money Laundering Directive (4 MLD) will lay the ground for further strengthening the Irish anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime. 

The NRA should be considered by all designated persons subject to the requirements of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Acts, 2010 and 2013.  Designated persons should assess the impact, if any, of this NRA on their own ML/TF risk analysis and integrate as appropriate. 

Also to note in the AML/CFT area is the publication of the FATF Report to the G20 on Beneficial Ownership.  The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors had called on the FATF and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum) to make initial proposals on ways to improve the implementation of the international standards on transparency, including on the availability of beneficial ownership information, and its international exchange.  

For further information please contact Dario Dagostino, Kevin Allen, Paula Reid or any member of our AML Team.

Date Published: 11 October 2016