Governance: SL’s overall nat’l ML risk rated medium: FIU

Sri Lanka’s overall national money laundering (ML) risk was rated as ‘medium’, consistent with its previous assessment, the completed the National Risk Assessment (NRA) 2024/25 on Money Laundering (ML), Terrorist Financing (TF) and Proliferation Financing (PF), has found, a statement released by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)  of the Central Bank (CBSL) said.

The assessment was conducted in collaboration with a total of 86 Governmental organisations, regulatory bodies and private sector institutions, with the FIU having functioned as the coordinator for the assessment under the guidance of the National Coordinating Committee (NCC) on Anti Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT). As this is the country’s third NRA under this assessment, it was aimed at identifying the ML/TF/PF risks in the country. 

The assessment was conducted under 15 core areas , including ML threat, ML vulnerability, banking sector vulnerability, securities sector vulnerability, insurance sector vulnerability, other Financial Institutions (FIs) vulnerability, Designated Non-Finance Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs) vulnerability, TF risk, financial inclusion product risk, environmental and natural resource crimes risk, non-profit organisations risk, risk of legal persons, legal arrangements and beneficial ownership, risk of Virtual Assets (VAs) and Virtual Assets Service Providers (VASPs), tax crimes and PF risk.

This third NRA is significant for Sri Lanka, as it incorporates the following key features; the country’s first national risk assessment of PF, conducted alongside ML and TF risk assessments; strong multi-stakeholder participation of experts from public and private sector institutions; the expanded scope covered 15 modules, including tax crimes risk and PF risk as new assessment areas; consideration of global and regional ML/TF/PF risk contexts; and use of a clear and standardised rating framework, including defined interpretations for risk, threat and vulnerability levels.

The national ML risk of Sri Lanka was determined by assessing: 1) the national ML threat; and 2) the national ML vulnerability. Sri Lanka’s overall national ML threat level was assessed as medium, primarily based on the major proceeds-generating unlawful activities (predicate offences). The country’s overall ML vulnerability was also rated as medium, taking into account both the national combating ability and sector-specific ML vulnerabilities. 

Source: The morning