Denmark’s Gambling Authority behind New AML CTF Strategy

Denmark’s national gambling authority, Spillemyndigheden, announced in a press release today it has been among the institutions which collaborated on the new national strategy for the prevention of money laundering and combatting terrorist financing (CTF).

Strengthening Coordination and Cooperation

Spillemyndigheden, as well as the gaming industry, actively contributed to the formulation of the new national anti-money laundering (AML) and CTF strategy that was recently announced by the Ministry of Justice and is set to run until 2025, the national gambling authority informed, noting the strategy builds on the many initiatives launched in the recent years.

Earlier in the month, the Ministry of Justice revealed its collaboration with two other ministries, industry organizations and private actors helped draw up a new national strategy aimed at preventing money laundering and combating terrorist financing. The collaboration also resulted in the formulation of 21 strategic objectives set for the same period.

Commenting on the new strategy at the time, Justice Minister Mattias Tesfaye outlined that money laundering facilitates criminals and tax evaders in disguising illegal profits, and is an issue that goes beyond national borders and one national authority, requiring coordination among institutions and cooperation with private actors.

Minister Tesfaye reminded what has already been done by the authorities, i.e. the establishment of a new police unit to deal with this type of crime and coordinate efforts with private organizations, highlighting that more needs to be done.

“Therefore, the new strategy is a real and important initiative that we can use in a common and more focused fight against organized crime and not least the people behind it,” he concluded.

Five Main Areas of Focus

The strategy focuses on five main areas where more needs to be done to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, including close cooperation between authorities and private actors, coherent, risk-based and targeted supervision, implementation of new digital and technological solutions, strengthening international cooperation, and intensifying the fight against complex and organized crime.

The country’s gambling watchdog which has been relatively soft with incumbents that have breached its revised AML CTF guide published in January 2020, issuing warnings and in some cases even reporting a licensee to the police, is adamant that the new strategy will become an integral part of its regulation and oversight.

Denmark’s efforts in the field of preventing money laundering and tackling terrorist financing date back to 2018 when the country came up with its first national strategy in response to strong criticism from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The financial watchdog reprimanded the country in 2017 for not having any AML and CTF strategy in place and Denmark came up with its 2018-2021 national strategy. The country also became an active participant in international AML and CTF forums. To date, Denmark has acted upon 38 out of the 40 FATF recommendations.