Responsibilities

FIC responsibilities are provided for by the same Law N^o 74/2019 of 29/01/2020  as modified by the law N^o 045/2021 of 18/08/2021 in article 7: they include the Following:

• to carry out operational and strategic analysis of received suspicious transaction reports and disseminate the results to relevant authorities;

• to coordinate preventive activities carried out by all institutions in relation to the implementation of the law relating to the prevention and punishment of money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;

• to advise the Government on strategies and policies aimed at preventing and countering money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and monitor their implementation;

• to advise competent organs on the amendment and reform of laws and regulations relating to the prevention and countering of money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, when considered necessary;

• to identify indicators that assist in recognising suspicious financial transactions;

• to provide trainings and support on any matter related to the countering of money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;

• to conduct public awareness on matters related to money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;

• to design and put in place systems and controls for the security and confidentiality of data held by FIC;

• to conduct national risk assessment on money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;

• to establish and maintain a database of statistics and records related to the effectiveness of the implementation of the law relating to the prevention and punishment of money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;

• to conduct research into trends, techniques and developments in the area of money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;

• to advise supervisory authorities of reporting persons on the implementation of the law relating to the prevention and punishment of money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;

• to participate in inter-agencies initiatives which aim at addressing financial and economic crime problems at the national, regional and international levels;

• to issue regulations and directives to be implemented by reporting persons;

• to regulate and supervise reporting persons that do not have any recognised supervisory authority;

• to issue regulations that implement the United Nations Security Council Resolutions with regard to targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism, terrorist financing assets and those of other persons;

• to issue regulations that implement the United Nations Security Council Resolutions with regard to targeted financial sanctions related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and its financing;

• to publish reports with comprehensive statistics, typologies and trends of money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as information regarding its activities;

• to provide feedback to reporting persons with regard to suspicious transactions reports, current technics, methods, trends or sanitised examples of actual money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction cases, however, such examples must not contain confidential informations;

• to develop and update a list of reporting persons;

• to collaborate with institutions, organisations or agencies that operate at national and international level in countering money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Powers

FIC has the following powers:

• to monitor financial transactions that have been reported as suspicious;

• to access financial, administrative and law enforcement information;

• to access electronic data and other information banked in the servers of reporting persons and other organs for the purpose of financial intelligence;

• to freeze and seize suspicious property or funds;

• to order the person with authentic and private documents on financial transactions to submit them to it;

• to order relevant organs to provide information related to the property and funds of individuals or legal entities suspected of committing money laundering, financing terrorism and financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction for the purpose of conducting financial intelligence;

• to provide or exchange information with a financial intelligence authority from another country and other foreign organs with the power to access needed information, in case they have the same obligation of professional secrecy;

• to order reporting persons to bring additional information useful for the analysis, when the information is correlated to received information;

• to issue regulations determining administrative misconduct and related sanctions for reporting persons under its supervision.