Financial Intelligence Unit
Foreign cooperation
The Office of Police Financial Analysis participates in international cooperation and is a member of organizations that receive notifications of possible money laundering and terrorist financing.
The Egmont Group (Egmont) is an international forum of offices worldwide that receive notifications of possible money laundering and terrorist financing. The purpose of this group is to contribute to increased international cooperation against money laundering and terrorist financing. More than 160 offices, in equal numbers, are members of Egmont.
Iceland became an operational third party to Europol in 2001. The International Division operates a Europol office in Iceland and works with a liaison officer in The Hague. Europol provides access to secure communication systems, databases and services for the Member States.
Iceland joined the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 1991, and in doing so, committed to harmonizing legislation and rules of procedure in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, as recommended by the FATF. The FATF was established at the meeting of the leaders of the seven major developed countries in Paris in 1989 as an international task force to develop measures to prevent abuse of the financial system for the purpose of placing illicit money in circulation. In 2001 the fight against terrorism was added to the role of the FATF and in 2007 the financing of the deployment of weapons of mass destruction. The role of the FATF has been divided into three parts:
To prepare recommendations for the Member States.
Evaluate the actions taken by the states in implementing the recommendations.
Learn to recognize the methods of money launderers and terrorist financing.
FATF prepared 40 recommendations for Member States and the recommendations are international standards to be used in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. The recommendations have been reviewed four times with regard to developments in this area. The FATF recommendations have been leading globally and the EU directives on money laundering and terrorist financing have been in line with them. The FATF conducts audits of the laws, regulations and practices of Member States and reports on the actions of each state. The FATF has high requirements for Member States to meet the requirements and these include stricter requirements for all types of financial instruments, the establishment of branches, subsidiaries and agencies, to name a few. If these requirements are not met, the FATF may issue warnings that trade in the regions of Member States may constitute a risk of money laundering. The FATF website contains 40 FATF recommendations and a wealth of information on methods of money laundering and terrorist financing.
In 2017, the FATF conducted a comprehensive review of the situation of the Icelandic counter-terrorism and money laundering. The main findings and improvements can be found on the website of the Ministry of Justice.
To ensure that persons from high-risk countries are carefully examined in transactions and to prevent illegal capital flows, the CBI’s Financial Supervisory Authority publishes list information on states or regions that do not comply with international recommendations and rules on measures against money laundering and terrorist financing.
Parties from states on the list must be given special attention due to increased risk of money laundering and terrorist financing and due diligence must be carried out according to law with the exception of parties from Iceland.