The reconstruction of Ukraine depends on foreign investments, and they depend on whether the country manages to ensure the stability and integrity of the financial system. The report of the SMURF project is devoted to the current state of affairs in this area.
❓Why is this important?
The report is based on the results of an online workshop held in February 2024. The event brought together representatives of key Ukrainian financial institutions and relevant authorities to discuss Ukraine’s technical compliance with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards and the effectiveness of responding to financial crimes.
The document, prepared by Oksana Ignatenko and Arzu Abbasova, summarizes the results of the discussion that took place during the seminar and reveals four key topics that she addressed:
- Regulation of the field of virtual assets, the need to develop a legal framework in this area as soon as possible and adopt the relevant Law “On Virtual Assets”;
- The work plan for the creation of the Unified register of accounts of individuals and legal entities and individual bank safes, the deadline for which is currently set for 2027;
- The need for further strengthening and expansion of public-private partnership (PPP) for the development of anti-money laundering technologies;
- The need to improve methods of financial investigations for the return of assets obtained through criminal means; ensuring proper training of prosecutors handling such cases, etc.
Full text of the report at the link.
❓What is SMURF?
“Supervising and Monitoring Ukraine’s Reconstruction Funds – SMURF” is a joint project of the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies (CFCS) at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI) and the BRDO.
Founded in 2022 in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the project is aimed at combating financial crimes and money laundering, and addressing reconstruction issues. The task of the project researchers is to identify realistic political responses to these challenges. The project also serves as a platform for youth cooperation in the fight against money laundering and expanding the capabilities of Ukrainian civil society as a “second line of defense”.