Preventive measures

The following are essential for preventing money laundering and terrorist financing:

• legislation

• adherence, implementation and monitoring of laws across actors

• economic sanctions and decisions on freezing of assets

• international cooperation

Legislation ensures that appropriate and sufficient measures may be used for preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. The parties the legislation applies to (obliged entities) must follow the Anti-Money Laundering Act. The Act lays down provisions on policies and procedures. Administrative sanctions might be imposed for entities that neglect their obligations. Money laundering and terrorist financing are punishable acts.

In addition to national legislation, EU anti-money laundering directives and FATF (Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering) recommendations also seek to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.

In order for the prevention to succeed, legislation must be developed further, entities have to be monitored and competent entities must be provided with sufficient rights to obtain information. The prevention effort involves obliged entities and several authorities.

Other preventive measures are economic sanctions and decisions on freezing of assets. The sanctions obligations are based on UN and EU regulations whose implementation at the national level is coordinated by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the enforcement authority.

Money laundering and terrorist financing are global phenomena. Therefore, their prevention also involves international collaboration. Ministries and various authorities participate in international collaboration groups that develop the preventive measures. International cooperation between authorities is also necessary in order to investigate suspicious cross-border cases effectively.

National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing 2023 and Action Plan 2024–2025 (In Finnish, Institutional Repository Valto)