UN experts highly value the work of FIU Latvia

Such visits assess the basis of the national legal framework, coordination between responsible authorities, international cooperation and response capacity in the implementation of counter-terrorism measures in the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions and make recommendations for the further development of counter-terrorism capabilities.

On 13 October, UN experts visited the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU Latvia) to assess Latvia's accomplishments in the fight against terrorism financing and the effectiveness of Latvia's system for the prevention of proceeds of crime and terrorism and proliferation financing. Experts assessed the legal framework and its compliance with international obligations, the capacity and effectiveness of FIU Latvia in preventing and combating ML/CFT, including cooperation with other responsible authorities, as well as with foreign partners and the ability of the FIU to ensure full implementation of UN Security Council resolutions.

The UN delegation commended FIU Latvia for this year's International BECA (best Egmont case award) award for outstanding work in the field of financial intelligence during the 28th Egmont Group Plenary Meeting in Riga. The UN delegation also appreciated the FIU’s accomplishments since the 2018 Moneyval assessment, stressing that Latvia has made significant improvements to its AML/CFT system as a whole by providing effective functioning mechanisms that prevent the use of the Latvian financial system for the implementation of financial crimes.

UN experts praised the FIU led Co-Operation Group Mechanism as an example of good practice that would also be recommended for other countries. An example of this is the AML Innovation Hub or AMLIH set up by the FIU, as a successful model for co-operation on AML/CFT.