Representatives of the Central Bank of Armenia, including the Financial Monitoring Center of the Central Bank, and the private sector, in particular banks and payment institutions, participated in a workshop on “Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risks related to Virtual Assets and the appropriate Mitigating Measures to Address those Risks”, organised in Yerevan on 9 and 10 February 2023.
This workshop was built on the support provided earlier by the Council of Europe to Armenian authorities in the area of regulation and supervision of Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) – an emerging and fast evolving area requiring adapted measures to prevent the use of virtual assets (VAs) and VASPs for money laundering or terrorism financing.
The Council of Europe’s international expertise provided at the workshop European and international standards in the area of VAs, including the latest relevant guidance from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), but also focused on more practical considerations relevant to the targeted sector. Group work and interactive discussions helped target the contents of the workshop at best to the reality of the Armenian practitioners.
Following the awareness-raising event, the Armenian authorities also benefited from additional guidance in their ongoing efforts to identify and implement appropriate regulatory and supervisory measures to address the risks related to VAs and VASPs, in particular on elements to take into account prior to the envisaged licensing of VASPs.
In his intervention, the Head of Cooperation of the European Union Delegation to Armenia welcomed the steps taken by the Armenian authorities towards legislative amendments in the field of virtual assets, among the overall ongoing strategic efforts to reform and establish a comprehensive and effective institutional and legal framework on anti-corruption, anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.
This workshop was organised in the framework of the Project on “Strengthening institutional capacities to fight and prevent corruption in Armenia” which is co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in their Partnership for Good Governance II.
