Georgia Georgia

New Documents

Georgia’s Service for Accounting, Reporting, and Auditing Supervision issued its strategy for the years 2023 to 2026 on promoting financial inclusion and accountability.

Georgia’s Service for Accounting, Reporting, and Audition Supervision announced the issuance of Order Numbers N-8 and N-9 which approve additional training on anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing topics.

Enforcement Actions

The National Bank of Georgia announced enforcement actions against two Tbilisi, Georgia-based financial institutions for failure to comply with their anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing obligations.

The National Bank of Georgia issued 38 enforcement actions in January 2023 against entities and individuals that failed to comply with the jurisdiction’s anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing laws.


Important Facts

  • The U.S. State Department labels Georgia as a major money laundering country. Much of the illicit proceeds in Georgia are derived from bank fraud and cybercrime. Due to Georgia’s location in a significant and well-established trafficking corridor, bulk cash smuggling and money laundering are notable threats. The State Department underlines that recent international investigations revealed that Georgia is a popular virtual currency mining location, and that the country only has a handful of qualified and competent digital forensic analysts. In particular, cryptocurrency is unregulated in Georgia and is an area that the country should address, along with its gaming industry. Georgia has an adequate legal and institutional framework for investigating and prosecuting money laundering offenses. New legislation passed in 2019 extended enhanced due diligence requirements to apply to both domestic and foreign politically exposed persons. The law also increases the ability of law enforcement to retrieve information from Georgia's Financial Monitoring Service for investigating money laundering and terrorist financing. In the fiscal year 2020, 36 money laundering prosecutions were initiated, compared to 25 in 2019. The State Department highlights that 2020 also saw two people convicted of money laundering.
-Source: 2021 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR)

Rankings

FATF i | 2013 Methodology

Technical Effectiveness
Compliant : 6 High : 0
Largely Compliant : 22 Substantial : 2
Partially Compliant : 11 Moderate : 8
Non-Compliant : 1 Low : 1

Georgia's technical compliance was re-rated in a Nov. 28, 2022, follow-up report.

BASEL i

Rank : 39/110
Score : 4.82/10

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL i

Rank : 45/179
Score : 56/100

Tax Justice Network i

Rank : 44/176
Score : 57/100