Industry professionals and the private sector to be kept informed of money laundering risk assessments

Information seminars will be organised by FIU Latvia in close cooperation with supervisory and control institutions – i.e., the Financial and Capital Market Commission, the Latvian Association of Certified Auditors, the Bank of Latvia, the Consumer Rights Protection Centre, the State Revenue Service, the Lottery and Gambling Supervision Inspection, the State Inspection for Heritage Protection, the Latvian Council of Sworn Notaries, and the Latvian Council of Sworn Advocates. The Latvian State Security Service also participates in the seminars, informing, within its sphere of responsibility, about the Terrorist Financing Prevention Strategy 2019-2021. The seminars will run until mid-December in the premises of the Faculty of Law of the University of Latvia.

The FIU Latvia seminars will provide detailed information on the AML/CFT/CPF risk assessments developed in 2019:

• National Terrorism and Proliferation Risk Assessment for 2017-2018;
• AML/CTF Risk Assessment of Legal Entities and Non-Governmental Organisations for 2017-2018;
• AML/CTF Risk Assessment of Professional Service Providers for 2017-2018;
• Risk Assessment of Virtual Currencies;
• Summary report of the Sector AML/CTF Risk Assessment for 2017-2018.

The risks identified in the National Money Laundering, Terrorism and Proliferation Financing Risk Assessment Report must be taken into account by the reporting entities of the Law when developing their internal control systems. An effective anti-money laundering system at corporate and state levels is only possible if everyone involved understands the risks and is able to fully apply the risk-based approach. An effective AML/CFT/CPF system, on the other hand, is one of the conditions for Latvia not to be included in the gray list.

The first information seminar was organised by FIU Latvia for sworn notaries in cooperation with the Latvian Council of Sworn Notaries. The Head of FIU Latvia, Ilze Znotiņa, admits that sworn notaries form a very important channel for cooperation in the AML/CFT/CPF fight and that, although sworn notaries are already well-informed on these issues, closer links need to be established and information on national risk assessment reports must be provided on a regular basis.

In the first nine months of 2019, FIU received 63 notifications on unusual or suspicious transactions from notaries, compared to 37 notifications in 2018 and 75 notifications in 2017.