On November 4 and 5, more than 100% of heads of financial intelligence units (FIUs) in the French-speaking world, including Tracfin for France, met in Monte-Carlo to discuss current events in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. The forum was inaugurated by Prince Albert II in person. But the key man on the subject in the principality is Michel Hunault, who has headed Siccfin for two years, the public body dedicated to this activity on the Rock.

This former French deputy, rapporteur to the National Assembly of laws against money laundering and corruption, is today the linchpin of the fight against financial crime in Monaco. The small state of 2 km² plays here its credibility in the concert of nations, does not relax. Since joining the Council of Europe in 2004, the principality has been subject to the obligations of the evaluation system by its pairs called “Moneyval”.

Moneyval review

This is to laundering what El Greco is to corruption. Or the evaluators will deliver next year, on the basis of data from local actors, their opinion on the efforts undertaken in Monaco against money laundering. During previous evaluations, Moneyval had pointed out shortcomings, for example a number of convictions “not necessarily proportional to what one might be able to expect given the size of the financial activity of the place”.

In October 2018, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a list of countries issuing passports or visas in exchange for investment in their economy. Among the 21 was Monaco, after having removed from the list the next day “additional information”. “The Principality of Monaco has never authorized golden passports in return for investments”, assures Michel Hunault.

Before Moneyval’s next report, Moneyval coordinated a “national risk assessment” aimed at defining a control strategy. “We have identified the sectors likely to serve as a transmission belt for recycling dirty money: the financial sector, luxury real estate, the games sector, others more specific such as yachting or players’ agents” , he explains.

This makes it possible to develop an action plan with priorities corresponding to these vulnerabilities. “From there, we intensify the obligations of” compliance “, that is to say of compliance with devices”, he argues, aware that it is, for the financial sector, a revolution “. “What we ask professionals is very heavy,” he admits.

145 billion euros in assets

Banks are a key player in the fight against money laundering. In Monaco, they manage nearly 145 billion euros in assets, a new record. The sector has 30 banks and 66 management companies. They are the ones who transmit suspicious transaction reports to Siccfin, over 600 per year, prior to possible legal proceedings.

“These statements are increasing. It is a kind of self-protection for the banks, because the texts of the last European directive transposed last year into Monegasque law suffers from very heavy sanctions ”, analyzes Etienne Franzi, a banker who chairs the Monegasque Association of activities. financial (Amaf).

The compliance sector, in local banks, is the one that recruits the most. It sometimes represents 10% of the workforce. “Next year, we are going to set up professional certification for all those involved in combating money laundering in our homes,” he indicates. On this issue, the principality would be far, according to him, from the “operetta image” conveyed by certain media cases such as the recent campaign to destabilize those close to the prince known as the “files of the Rock”.