Central Bank of Montenegro hosts regional conference on anti-money laundering and fraud prevention in instant payments

The Central Bank of Montenegro hosted a regional conference on preventing money laundering, terrorist financing and fraud in instant payments, bringing together senior representatives of central banks and supervisory authorities from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia, alongside international supervision and payment-system experts. The discussions positioned stronger AML/TF controls as central to safeguarding financial system integrity and supporting closer integration of Western Balkan economies with European frameworks. Governor Irena Radovic highlighted the Central Bank of Montenegro’s work over the past two years to improve the regulatory framework, strengthen supervision and institutional capacity, and introduce risk-based measures in cooperation with Eurosystem central banks, linking higher standards to participation in initiatives such as SEPA and TIPS. AML/TF Supervision Directorate Director Gordana Kalezic stressed the role of regional institutional cooperation, while National Bank of Belgium on-site AML/TF supervision Director Roel Braes pointed to future cooperation with the newly established European Anti-Money Laundering Authority. Contributions also covered EU experience in implementing instant payments regulation and SEPA and TIPS clone systems, and assessed the readiness of Western Balkan jurisdictions already integrated, or in the process of integrating, into SEPA and/or TIPS clones.