Mutual Evaluation of Iceland

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has completed an assessment of the implementation of its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing standards in Iceland. Among its major findings were:

• Overall, Iceland has a sound legal framework in place to combat money laundering, although the available penalties and the number of convictions are low.

• Iceland legislation on combating terrorist financing is generally comprehensive; however, its effectiveness has not yet been tested. Iceland should also strengthen its system for freezing suspected terrorist financing-related assets.

• The Icelandic FIU is part of the Economic Crime Unit of the National Commissioner of Icelandic Police and is responsible for the receipt, analysis and dissemination of STRs. At the time of the on-site visit, there were concerns about the structure, resources, and results of the FIU, although Iceland is now addressing these issues and improvement is expected.

• Preventative measures for financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and provisions have recently been strengthened through new legislation, although some deficiencies remain. Iceland should move to put these obligations into effective practice and address the remaining deficiencies.

• Iceland has a strong system for domestic co-operation, which is strengthened by informal networks of communication within the country’s small government.

• Iceland has a generally comprehensive framework for providing international co-operation.

For further information, journalists are invited to contact the FATF Secretariat, 2, rue André-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16 (tel: +33 1 45 24 79 45, fax: +33 1 44 30 61 37 or email: contact@fatf-gafi.org).

This mutual evaluation was conducted using the FATF Recommendations as published in October 2004, and the 2004 Methodology for Assessing Compliance with the FATF 40 Recommendations and FATF 9 Special Recommendations.