Strengthening the system of protection against money laundering and terrorist financing in Ukraine will make the international financial system stronger.

This was stated by First Deputy Minister of Finance Denys Uliutin during his online speech at the International Forum “Financial Monitoring – 2023”.

“This year the Government team, together with MPs and the State Financial Monitoring Service, has done a great job in developing and adopting the necessary European integration projects to implement one of the seven recommendations of the European Commission regarding Ukraine’s application for EU membership.

In particular, a draft law on politically exposed persons was adopted, removing the three-year restriction and introducing a risk-based approach to such persons. The NBU also adopted a procedure for the supervision of non-financial institutions and professions and initiated legislative amendments on targeted financial sanctions. In addition, significant work has been done on the methodology for determining the ultimate beneficial owner of a legal entity,” the First Deputy Minister of Finance said.

According to Denys Uliutin, the Ministry of Finance fully understands the necessity and importance of the work carried out when a terrorist country does not stop its criminal actions and uses all possible means to do so.

In his view, in order to strengthen its defences, Ukraine should continue to eliminate legal and regulatory gaps in the system of combating money laundering and terrorist financing, develop a more efficient and effective regulatory framework, and increase the operational efficiency of law enforcement agencies and other authorities involved in financial monitoring.

All these steps are set out in the draft Action Plan of Ukraine in the field of financial monitoring for the period up to 2026, based on the results of the third round of the national risk assessment.

This Action Plan is already under consideration by the Government and will be approved in the near future, after which even more active work in this area will begin.