Bolivia : Report on Observance of Standards and Codes--FATF Recommendations for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism
This report is on the observance of standards and codes (ROSC) for the "Financial Action Task Force (FATF) 40 Recommendations for Anti-Money Laundering and 8 Special Recommendations Combating the Financing of Terrorism." Bolivia's system to prevent and suppress money laundering fulfills most of the FATF 40 recommendations and applies to the insurance, stock market, and financial sectors. However, the system does not include other activities that are susceptible to money laundering, such as currency exchange houses or money transfer agencies. This is an aspect that the authorities hope to rectify in the medium term. The institutional regulatory, supervisory, and financial intelligence responsibilities for combating money laundering are concentrated in the FIU. However, the FIU is not able to carry out on-site supervision of the financial system, and the sectoral superintendence's do not supervise compliance with anti-money laundering standards either. Moreover, there is no high-ranking authority promoting an integrated anti-money laundering policy. Instead, this is left in the hands of the FIU, which lacks the means to push for legislative reforms on its own or to strengthen the efficacy of the system to suppress money laundering. One of the initiatives that the FIU has undertaken to this end is the drafting of a law to expand the criminal classification and extend the obligation to prevent money laundering to new sectors, such as currency exchange houses. By the same token, the superintendence of Banks and financial institutions will issue a regulation making the duties of financial institutions' external auditors more exacting. Lastly, it will begin in the near future to apply the interinstitutional cooperation convention recently signed by various public entities involved in anti-money laundering efforts, with the aim of achieving better results in terms of cases brought to trial, convictions, and goods confiscated.