Estonia

Baltic AML Forum: the challenges of country risk assessment

Basel Institute senior advisor and former board member Hans-Peter Bauer presented at the Baltic AML Forum on 2 October on the topic of Country Risk Assessment - A Difficult Task. The Forum was opened by the Lithuanian Minister of Finance and attended by 150 participants, who were mainly compliance officers and tech experts from Baltic-region banks, FinTech companies and cryptocurrency ventures. Peter Bauer's presentation included references to the Basel AML Index, which raised particular interest for two reasons: because of the sophisticated methodology used to calculate risks of money laundering and terrorist financing ML/TF in countries around the world; because the 8th edition of the Basel AML Index, released on 19 August, attributes the lowest ML/TF country risk worldwide to Estonia – a country that recently attracted international attention for a major money laundering scandal including such reputable banks as Danske Bank, Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan Chase. The Q&A session gave Peter an opportunity to explain the methodology and the results of the 2019 Basel AML Index rating. He emphasised the recommendation that Estonia – like Latvia and Lithuania – should undergo an FATF Mutual Evaluation review by regional body Moneyval at the earliest possible opportunity, in order to reestablish trust and the reputation of an otherwise well-functioning regulatory environment. Find out more About the Basel AML Index and 8th edition country risk rankings How can Estonia have the lowest risk of money laundering in the Basel AML Index? by Kateryna Boguslavska Press release: Basel AML Index 2019: Too little progress – are AML systems effective?