The UIF has published its first newsletter of 2023, concerning the main activities carried out in the second half of 2022.
In this timeframe, the Unit received 81,228 STRs, recording a 17 per cent increase on the same period of the previous year and the highest number of reports received over a six-month period.
The UIF received 127 cooperation requests from the judicial authorities. In terms of its collaboration with foreign FIUs, the Unit received 815 requests or spontaneous communications and over 43,000 cross-border reports from other FIUs in the EU, a significant increase on the previous six months.
In the second half of 2022, the Unit started five inspections of banks, financial intermediaries and non-financial operators, among which an online gaming service provider and a virtual currency service provider. An off-site inspection of a peer-to-peer lending intermediary was concluded.
The EU Council agreed on a general approach to the parts of the AML Package still under review. The European Court of Justice has declared the rules acknowledging the indiscriminate public accessibility of the Register of beneficial owners provisioned in the Fifth Directive (EU 2018/843) to be invalid.
The European Commission published the Supra-National Risk Assessment (SNRA), an updated review of the money laundering and terrorist financing risks in the EU Market.
