Monaco Falls Short in Fighting Financial Crime, Watchdog Says
- Moneyval report found incomplete databases, lack of resources
- Monaco says its determined to comply with strictest standards
Prince Albert II made cleaning up Monaco’s financial system a priority when he acceded to the throne in 2005.
Photographer: Jeremy Suyker/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
When a team of European inspectors visited Monaco last year, they expected to see significant progress on Prince Albert II’s pledge that the Principality would develop a robust program to stop financial crime.
Instead, they found that ownership databases were largely incomplete, reports on suspicious transactions were filed months late, and authorities lacked the resources or sophistication to tackle the most complex investigations. The findings led the inspectors to give Monaco their worst effectiveness rating for the way it prosecutes money laundering and recovers assets.