Laos Laos

New Documents

The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering published a mutual evaluation report on Laos’ anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing efforts, highlighting several significant shortcomings and challenges in law enforcement and regulatory compliance.

The State Bank of Vietnam announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Laos during a recent state visit regarding cooperation in key banking activities for the period of 2019 to 2024.

News

Enforcement Actions

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Important Facts

  • The U.S. State Department labels Laos as a major money laundering country. The country possesses a cash-based economy with limited legal, regulatory, and law enforcement capacity that make it vulnerable to criminal networks. High-value purchases, including land, real estate, and luxury vehicles are routinely made with cash. Corruption, drug trafficking, environmental crime, the casino industry, and human trafficking all present significant vulnerabilities, though corruption was not listed as significant threat in the country's 2018 national risk assessment. Although gaming is illegal for Lao nationals, casinos in special economic zones serve foreigners. These gaming zones lack supervision; however, Laos is drafting a decree on casino and gaming operations to provide for supervision of casinos and gaming. Laos’ Anti-Money Laundering Intelligence Office is taking steps to enhance awareness of anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing requirements. Nevertheless, deficiencies such as lacking agreements for international cooperation, lacking anti-proliferation financing laws, and  limited asset forfeiture options remain.
Source: 2021 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR)

Rankings

FATF i | 2013 Methodology

Technical Effectiveness
Compliant : 0 High : 0
Largely Compliant : 8 Substantial : 0
Partially Compliant : 22 Moderate : 2
Non-Compliant : 9 Low : 9
Not-Applicable : 1

BASEL i

Rank : 4/141
Score : 7.82/10

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL i

Rank : 134/179
Score : 29/100

Tax Justice Network i

Rank : N/A
Score : N/A