Draft strategy for countering money laundering prepared

The Draft National Strategy for Countering Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism has been prepared and will be sent to institutions to give their opinions, and it should be adopted at the next session of the Government of Serbia, it was said at the recent session of the Coordination Body for Prevention of Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism.

– Our results are more than good and we continue to meet our obligations. Moneyval published its report on January 23 on its website and they note improvements in three areas – explained the Serbian Finance Minister, Sinisa Mali.

It was pointed out at the meeting that Serbia's ratings had been improved for all the recommendations for which the country met the requirements and that four recommendations had been noted as partially fulfilled, though they were already fulfilled technically as well, but not yet rated, being slated for consideration in December 2021, the Ministry of Finance says in a press release.

Mali proposed for an inter-sector work group to be formed to deal with the policy of development and regulation of crypto-property rights in the country with the aim of further developing the market.

At the session, Mali pointed out that Serbia needed to be a country which enabled various forms of financing and that it was therefore necessary to follow the modernization of financial products and payment instruments, like cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

– This is a topic that is widely discussed, but that little is known about. As a finance minister, I want to consider all the possibilities and channels of cooperation and investments in our country. Some investors are already trading and paying in cryptocurrencies and bitcoins. This, then, is an unstoppable trend and Serbia should not be left behind – he said.

The minister emphasized that, in this new field, the opinion of experts in electronic business and crypto-property rights should be taken into consideration and that he therefore advocated for the future work group to feature such experts, in addition to government representatives.

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

Ministry of Finance

Siniša Mali

National Strategy for Countering Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism

cryptocurrencies

money laundering

blockchain technology

Moneyval report

Coordination Body for Prevention of Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism

bitcoin

modernization of financial products