On 9 October, President Edgars Rinkēvičs met with the Head of the Financial Intelligence Service (FIS) Toms Platacis and Deputy Head Paulis Iļjenkovs at Riga Castle to discuss current issues related to the prevention of money laundering and the preparation of the sixth round report of the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Moneyval).
The President congratulated T. Platacis on his appointment as Head of the FIS and welcomed the active cooperation of the FIS with the private sector and foreign partners. The contribution of the FIS to educating the public about the risks of financial crime and what to do to avoid it was also positive.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the risk policies of Latvian commercial banks and their impact on the availability of financial services. "The Financial Intelligence Service plays an important role in ensuring the security of Latvia's financial system, which is part of the country's overall security. Moreover, the Financial Intelligence Service is one of the institutions that ensure the effective implementation of international and national sanctions binding on Latvia, including the European Union sanctions against Russia and Belarus. Although Latvia positions itself as a country that has learnt and cleaned up its financial sector, the mechanism of supervision of commercial banks must be reasonable in order not to slow down economic development and to maintain Latvia's competitiveness in the global financial market," emphasised E. Rinkēvičs.
