Detailed Assessment Report on Anti–Money
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FINANCIAL SECTOR ASSESSMENT PROGRAM DETAILED ASSESSMENT OF REPORT ON ANTI–MONEY LAUNDERING AND COMBATING THE FINANCING OF TERRORISM ITALY FEBRUARY 2006 INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND MONETARY AND FINANCIAL SYSTEMS DEPARTMENT - 2 - Contents Page Glossary .....................................................................................................................................3 Preface ........................................................................................................................................6 Executive Summary...................................................................................................................6 I. General..................................................................................................................................17 General information on Italy........................................................................................17 General Situation of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism ........................17 Overview of the Financial Sector and DNFBPs ..........................................................19 Overview of commercial laws and mechanisms governing legal persons and arrangements................................................................................................................24 Overview of strategy to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing ................25 The institutional framework for combating money laundering and terrorist financing26 II. Detailed assessment.............................................................................................................37 Legal System and Related Institutional Measures.......................................................37 Preventive Measures–Financial Institutions ................................................................54 Preventive Measures–Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions ...........96 Legal Persons and Arrangements & Nonprofit Organizations ..................................102 National and International Cooperation.....................................................................108 Other Issues................................................................................................................112 Tables 1. Detailed Assessment ....................................................................................................38 2. Ratings of Compliance with FATF Recommendations.............................................113 3. Recommended Action Plan to Improve Compliance with FATF Recommendations...................................................................................119 Appendices I. Details of All Bodies Met During the On-site Mission .............................................128 II. Key AML/CFT Laws, Regulations, and Other Material ...........................................131 - 3 - GLOSSARY AML/CFT Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism AML Law Decree Law 143 of May 3, 1991 “Urgent provisions to limit the use of cash and bearer instruments in transactions and prevent the use of the financial system for purposes of money laundering law,” as amended and ratified by the Law 197 of July 5, 1991. AUI Data base to be set up by financial intermediaries (Archivio Unico Informatico) Consolidated Law Legislative Decree # 58 of February 24, 1998, on financial intermediation BoI Bank of Italy BL Banking Law (Legislative Decree 385 of 1 September 1993) CDD Customer Due Diligence Consob Stock Exchange Commission (Commissione nazionale per le societa e la borsa) CSM Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura DDA District Anti-Mafia Directorate (Direzione Distrettuale Antimafia) DIA Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate (Direzione Investigativa Antimafia) DNA National Anti-Mafia Directorate (Direzione Nazionale Anti-Mafia) DNFBP Designated Non Financial Businesses and Professions EC European Commission EU European Union FATF Financial Action Task Force FIU Financial Intelligence Unit FSC Financial Security Committee FT Financing of Terrorism GdF Financial and Economic Police (Guardia di Finanza) ISVAP Istituto per la vigilanza sulle assicurazione private e di interesse collettivo MEF Ministry of Economy and Finance MER FATF Mutual Evaluation Report MHA Ministry of Home Affairs - 4 - MoJ Ministry of Justice NPO Nonprofit Organization NSPV Nucleo Speciale di Polizia Valutaria of the Guardia di Finanza ONLUS Nonprofit organization (Organizzazioni nonlucrative di utilità sociale) Palermo United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime Convention (2000) Spa Joint stock company (società per azioni) Srl Limited company (società a responsabilità limitata) STR Suspicious Transaction Report UIC Italian Exchange Office and Financial Intelligence Unit (Ufficio Italiano dei Cambi) UN United Nations UNSCR United Nations Security Council Resolution Vienna United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Convention Psychotropic Substances (1988) - 5 - PREFACE 1. An assessment of the anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) regime of Italy was conducted based on the Forty Recommendations 2003 and the Nine Special Recommendations on Terrorist Financing 2001 of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and prepared using the AML/CFT Methodology 2004. The assessment considered the laws, regulations and other materials supplied by the authorities, and information obtained by the assessment team during its mission April 4–20, 2005, and subsequently. During the mission, the assessment team met with officials and representatives of all relevant government agencies and the private sector. A list of the bodies met is set out in Annex 2 to the detailed assessment report. 2. The assessment was conducted by a team of assessors composed of staff of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and experts acting under the supervision of the IMF. The evaluation team consisted of: Jean-François Thony, Assistant General Counsel, Team Leader, Richard Lalonde, Senior Financial Sector Expert, MFD, Nadine Schwarz, Counsel, LEG, Maud Bökkerink, Financial Sector Expert, MFD, Michael DeFeo, Consultant. The assessors reviewed the institutional framework, the relevant AML/CFT laws, regulations, guidelines and other requirements, and the regulatory and other systems in place to deter money laundering (ML) and the financing of terrorism (FT) through financial institutions and Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBP), as well as examining the capacity, the implementation and the effectiveness of all these systems. 3. This report provides a summary of the AML/CFT measures in place in Italy as of the date of the mission or immediately thereafter. It describes and analyses those measures, and provides recommendations on how certain aspects of the system could be strengthened (see Table 3). It also sets out Italy’s levels of compliance with the FATF 40+9 Recommendations (see Table 2). - 6 - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Overall, the current AML/CFT framework in Italy is extensive and mature, and achieves a high degree of compliance with most of the FATF 40+9. The law enforcement efforts against money laundering have been quite successful. The AML/CFT preventive system is quite sophisticated, but needs to be updated to incorporate the new features of the revised FATF standard with respect to financial institutions and nonfinancial businesses and professions. Equally important, more effort needs to be devoted by supervisory authorities to ensure the legal framework is effectively implemented by reporting entities. The Table below summarizes recommended actions in areas related to the FATF 40+9 Recommendations. General 4. Italy has a comprehensive AML/CFT system initially set up in 1991 and later updated a number of times. The justice and law enforcement aspects of the law are based on a long-standing enforcement machinery designed to cut down on the economic power of mafia-type criminal organizations. The design and implementation of AML/CFT policies are placed under the Ministry of Economy and Finance while the financial intelligence unit and the AML/CFT compliance functions are exercised by the Ufficio Italiano dei Cambi (UIC), in collaboration with prudential and market conduct supervisors as well as the Guardia di Finanza (GdF). 5. The law enforcement efforts against money laundering have been quite successful, and almost 600 cases of money laundering lead to conviction every year, which is one of the highest rates of successful prosecutions in Europe. Based on three different systems of confiscations of criminal assets law enforcement authorities confiscated more than 130 million Euros worth of criminal proceeds in 2004. 6. While quite sophisticated, the AML/CFT preventive system has generally not been updated to reflect the new provisions of the revised FATF standard and of the 2001 European Directive on Money Laundering. There is a high degree of awareness and broad implementation of AML/CFT preventive measures within the financial sector, as well as good cooperation between supervisory authorities. Nevertheless, the most pressing challenges concern: • Implementation of the significantly more detailed risk-based customer due diligence (CDD) requirements of the revised standard • Need to increase levels of suspicious transaction reporting of nonbank financial intermediaries and to introduce a clear obligation in the law to report transactions suspected of being related to terrorist financing - 7 - • Need to increase on-site inspection efforts