Mutual Evaluation of Portugal

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has completed an assessment of the implementation of its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing standards in Portugal.  Among its major findings were:

• Portugal has a sound legal framework in place to combat money laundering, although the number of convictions is relatively low.
• Portuguese legislation on combating terrorist financing is, on the whole, comprehensive.
• The Portuguese FIU, together with the Attorney General’s office, are responsible for the receipt, analysis and development of STR and CTR information for investigation by law enforcement.  The number of STRs received, however, is relatively low.
• Preventative measures contained in law and supervisors regulations require financial institutions to undertake a range of customer due diligence measures; the current obligations are ample when assessed against the FATF standard.
• Obligations for DNFBPs contained in law provide a sound basis for compliance with FATF obligations; these do need to be more comprehensively applied.
• Portugal has a complete and clear framework for providing international co-operation.

This mutual evaluation was conducted using the FATF Recommendations as published in October 2004, and the 2004 Methodology for Assessing Compliance with the FATF 40 Recommendations and FATF 9 Special Recommendations.