In February 2018, the Republic of Serbia made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF to strengthen the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime. It will therefore be further assessed and subject to enhanced supervision by the FATF. Despite this commitment, the Republic of Serbia is still considered a high-risk country by the FATF and financial intermediaries need to take appropriate measures.
Imagine a retail bank serving a number of Serbian clients domiciled in Switzerland. As with other foreign nationalities living in Switzerland, there are the usual ties to the home country which also result financial transactions from and into these countries.
Do financial intermediaries now have to flag relationships with a nexus to the Republic of Serbia as high-risk relationships? The answer is simple: yes, beginning as at 1 January 2020 the latest. For instance, the same applies to Pakistani businesses and individuals who often use offshore banking services.