In a new report, MONEYVAL stated that Bulgaria has strengthened its efforts to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

The report says that Bulgaria has made big progress in following ten recommendations from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). These recommendations revolve around crucial aspects such as national cooperation and coordination, politically exposed individuals, money or value transfer services, internal controls, foreign branches and subsidiaries, customer due diligence, designated non-professional business and professions (DNFBPs), transparency and beneficial ownership of legal arrangements, regulation and supervision of financial institutions, supervisory powers, cash couriers, and statistics.

Bulgaria has improved its systems to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing since May 2022, according to MONEYVAL. The current version complies with recommendations 14 (pertaining to money transfer services) and 32 (pertaining to cash couriers). Bulgaria was initially rated "partially compliant" in the mentioned areas but was later upgraded to "largely compliant," indicating that only minor issues still need to be addressed for the other recommendations.

Bulgaria has made progress in implementing recommendations on correspondent banking and new technologies. However, it is still rated as "partially compliant" in these areas. Bulgaria is currently rated as compliant or largely compliant with 27 out of the 40 applicable FATF recommendations assessed by MONEYVAL for this report. It is partially compliant with 13 of the recommendations.

There are no guidelines that Bulgaria does not follow. Bulgaria has been mandated by the Council of Europe to submit a comprehensive report to MONEYVAL within one year, outlining its diligent efforts to reinforce measures geared towards combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.