Bosnia and Herzegovina will almost certainly end up on the so-called MONEYVAL grey list again, i.e. among the countries under increased international supervision due to insufficient fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
According to information obtained by the Report, the joint FATF/E-MENA group is considering the final status of BiH in a closed meeting today, but the entire process is already considered a formality in diplomatic circles. The message conveyed to the BiH delegation during the MONEYVAL plenary session in Helsinki was clear – Bosnia and Herzegovina has not fulfilled its obligations under the action plan and is entering a regime of increased monitoring.
Over the past few days, FATF/E-MENA representatives have additionally contacted domestic institutions, requesting precise information on laws that have not yet been adopted, but also on regulations that have in the meantime received the support of the Council of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH.
Special attention was paid to the Law on Restricting the Disposal of Assets for the Purpose of Preventing Terrorism, Terrorism Financing and the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Although the law was adopted in early May and published in the Official Gazette of BiH, international institutions have been demanding an exact date for its entry into force. According to available information, the law will only become operational on May 13.
However, the adoption of this regulation was not enough for BiH to avoid the grey list.
The key problem remained two laws under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice of BiH, headed by Davor Bunoza. These are amendments to the Law on International Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, as well as the Law on Confiscation and Management of Criminal Assets.
Although the proposals were prepared for consideration by the Council of Ministers of BiH, SNSD ministers Staša Košarac and Srđan Amidžić did not support their inclusion on the agenda, which practically blocked the attempt to fulfill international obligations.
An additional problem is the failure to establish a register of beneficial owners in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a project that falls under the jurisdiction of the federal Ministry of Trade. According to the Report, work on the register has practically not even begun, which was another important condition of MONEYVAL.
Because of all this, international institutions are expected to provide BiH with new deadlines and precise obligations in the coming weeks that the state will have to fulfill in order to be removed from the grey list.
According to current estimates, the deadline for adopting the law on international legal assistance and management of illegally acquired assets could be September of this year, while the register of beneficial owners would have to be established by the middle of next year at the latest.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has already faced the same situation once before. It first ended up on the MONEYVAL grey list in 2015, and was removed from it three years later, after the necessary laws and mechanisms for controlling financial flows were adopted.
Returning to increased monitoring could have serious consequences for the country’s financial sector and economy. The grey list implies stricter control of international money transactions, additional checks on banks and clients, slower payment transactions and greater caution on the part of foreign financial institutions in doing business with BiH.
Citizens could also feel the consequences through more complicated international transactions, slower payments from abroad and increased administrative procedures in the banking sector.
The next regular MONEYVAL evaluation for Bosnia and Herzegovina is planned for 2031, but there is a possibility that the country will exit the enhanced surveillance regime even earlier if it fulfills the required reforms and legal obligations in the next two years.
