MONEYVAL delivers training on the Rock ahead of evaluation

The Minister for Trade and Industry has welcomed the fact that representatives of the MONEYVAL Secretariat are delivering training on the Rock.

The training forms part of Gibraltar’s preparations for its forthcoming MONEYVAL mutual evaluation.

In his opening address, Nigel Feetham highlighted the importance of protecting Gibraltar's reputation, recognising where improvements are necessary and demonstrating the Rock's framework is effective in practice.

MONEYVAL is the Council of Europe's body responsible for assessing its members’ compliance with international standards for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing, as established by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The training aims to provide Gibraltar’s authorities with practical guidance on the evaluation process, the FATFassessment methodology and what will be expected of Gibraltar throughout the different stages of the evaluation.

Gibraltar’s authorities can engage directly with MONEYVAL ahead of the forthcoming evaluation, clarify expectations and ensure a coordinated national approach to the process.

The Minister for Trade and Industry highlighted the importance of an adequate legal and regulatory framework and response.  These he said, need to evolve as financial crime and technology evolve, and as do the methods used to move, conceal and disguise illicit funds.

Nigel Feetham said an effective framework for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing cannot be delivered by Government alone but requires a collective effort.

That partnership, he added, is particularly important for Gibraltar.

He said Gibraltar remains firmly committed to the FATF Standards and to the international effort to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing.

Our objective, he added, is to ensure the risks we face are properly understood and that the response to those risks is effective and proportionate and extend beyond demonstrating compliance during an evaluation.

He added Gibraltar has to demonstrate it has a framework which understands its risks, responds proportionately to them, produces effective outcomes and continues to improve as they evolve.