National Risk Assessment Ireland Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Prepared by the Anti-Money Laundering Section, Department of Finance and the Department of Justice and Equality with the collaboration of the National Anti - Money Laundering Steering Committee APRIL 2019 NRA Ireland | 1 NRA Ireland | 2 Contents Executive Summary .............................................................................................. 5 Objective of National Risk Assessment .............................................................. 5 AML/CFT Policy Coordination and Development ............................................... 6 Overview of the Results of Ireland’s First NRA ................................................... 7 Background ........................................................................................................... 9 What are Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing? ....................................... 9 National Risk Assessment Purpose, Scope and Methodology ........................... 9 Ireland’s Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Framework .............. 11 Economic, Geographic, and Political Environment ........................................... 16 Legal, Judicial and Supervisory Framework ..................................................... 19 International Framework .................................................................................. 19 Ireland’s Legal and Institutional Framework ..................................................... 20 Main Threats ........................................................................................................ 28 Money Laundering Threats in Ireland ............................................................... 28 Drug Offences .................................................................................................. 29 Financial Crime ................................................................................................ 29 Tobacco Smuggling ......................................................................................... 31 Tax Evasion ..................................................................................................... 31 Prostitution ....................................................................................................... 32 Fuel Laundering ............................................................................................... 33 Theft and Burglary ........................................................................................... 34 Cybercrime ...................................................................................................... 35 Human Trafficking ............................................................................................ 36 Bribery and Corruption ..................................................................................... 37 Other Illicit Trade ............................................................................................. 37 Financial Services Sector ................................................................................... 39 Overview of ML and TF Risks in Financial Services Sector .............................. 39 Retail Banking .................................................................................................. 40 Non-Retail Banks ............................................................................................. 41 Payment Institutions ......................................................................................... 43 Bureau de Change ........................................................................................... 45 Life Assurance ................................................................................................. 46 Funds/Funds Administrators ............................................................................ 47 NRA Ireland | 3 Contents Asset Managers ............................................................................................... 50 Investment Firms other than Asset Managers .................................................. 51 Credit Unions ................................................................................................... 52 Moneylenders .................................................................................................. 53 Trusts or Company Service Providers (Subsidiaries of .................................... 54 Credit/Financial Inst.) (TCSPs) ........................................................................ 54 Retail Intermediaries ........................................................................................ 55 Cheque Cashing Offices .................................................................................. 55 Non-Financial Sectors ........................................................................................ 56 Private Members’ Clubs (PMCs) ...................................................................... 56 High Value Goods Dealers (HVGDs) ............................................................... 58 Trust or Company Services Providers (Non-Financial) (TCSPs) ...................... 59 Notaries ........................................................................................................... 61 Property Services Providers ............................................................................ 62 Legal Services Sector ...................................................................................... 63 Accountancy Services Sector .......................................................................... 67 Non-Profit Organisations .................................................................................. 70 Gambling Sector .............................................................................................. 71 Legal Entities and Arrangements ....................................................................... 77 Potential Misuse of Ireland’s Legal Entities and Arrangements ........................ 77 Cash and other Payment Methods ..................................................................... 84 Cash ................................................................................................................ 84 E-Money .......................................................................................................... 87 Virtual Currencies ............................................................................................ 90 Terrorist Financing.............................................................................................. 92 Non-Financial Sectors ..................................................................................... 92 NRA Ireland | 4 Executive Summary Objective of National Risk Assessment 1.1. This is Ireland’s first money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) national risk assessment (NRA), and the aim of this process was to identify, understand and assess the money laundering and terrorist financing risks faced by Ireland. This NRA is also intended to provide the basis for an Action Plan, which, together with the feedback from the FATF Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) and This is Ireland’s first money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) national risk assessment (NRA), and the transposition of the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (4AMLD),1 will lay the ground for further strengthening the Irish anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT)2 regime. 1.2. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body whose objectives are to set global standards, to promote and to review the effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational AML/CFT measures. Ireland has been a member of the Financial Action Task Force since 1991. In 2012, the FATF revised the international standards by placing at the core of its forty recommendations a new requirement for countries to identify, assess and understand ML/TF risks particular to their jurisdictions. Ireland is committed to the implementation of the FATF’s recommendations which have been endorsed by over 180 countries as the international standards for combating money laundering, countering financing of terrorism, and forestalling the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. 1.3. The requirement to assess risks at country-level is central to the FATF’s analysis of the effectiveness of AML/CFT infrastructures. Compliance with many of the remaining recommendations is linked to the quality of the NRA, as the general view is that achieving a clear and comprehensive view of national risks allows countries’ policy makers to establish effective multi-agency mechanisms to coordinate domestically on effectively combating identified threats. 1.4. The European Union has adopted a similar risk-based approach, and the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive will impose obligations on Member States, on the Commission, and on the EU’s supervisory agencies to contribute to an ongoing analysis of ML/TF risks at business, country, and EU levels. 1.5. Although this is Ireland’s first national ML/TF risk assessment, the country’s current commitments as a FATF member and its future legal obligations as an EU Member State mean that it will update this assessment on an ongoing basis,3 in order to reflect changes to existing threats and vulnerabilities, and new threats and vulnerabilities as they emerge. 1 Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial