In the areas of anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing (AML/CFT), supervisory authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan improved their capacities in risk-based supervision of designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFPBs through three workshops held in Astana from 26 to 29 March 2024).

The first workshop (26-27 March) brought together 15 representatives from seven supervisory authorities, including the Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA), Agency for Protection and Development of Competition, Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), Ministry of Trade and Integration, Ministry of Tourism and Sport, Ministry of Finance (Committee of the Internal Public Audit) and Ministry of Justice. The other two workshops (28 and 29 March) were attended by around 130 representatives of DNFPBs (77 in person and more than 50 online) including accountants, lessors, jewellers, realtors, legal consultants, lawyers, notaries, commodity exchanges, the gambling sector, and auditors.

Through these activities the supervisory Kazakh authorities improved their understanding of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards and obligations for effective risk-based supervision of DNFBPs. Moreover, the representatives of the DNFBPs also increased their awareness of international best practices in meeting their obligations.

This activity was organised by the Action on “Promoting Transparency and Action against Economic Crime” in the framework of the Central Asia Rule of Law Programme 2020-2024, a joint initiative co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the latter. The Action is aimed at strengthening capacities to fight and prevent economic crime in five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan).