YEREVAN, May 30. /ARKA/. The Financial Monitoring Center (FMC) of Armenia’s Central Bank said it had received 232,635 reports in 2017 on cash transactions exceeding the legal requirement of 5 million drams, up from 206,065 reports in 2016.

In 2017, the Center received 193,460 reports on non-cash transactions exceeding the legal requirement of 20 million drams (50 million drams for real estate transactions), up from 168,329 reports in 2016. The FMC also received 280 reports on suspicious transactions (256 reports in 2016).
Overall, the center received 426,095 reports from financial and non-financial institutions, of which 414,204 from the local commercial banks.

According to the FMC, various fraud schemes were used in 2017, particularly, theft of cardholders’ data for illegal transactions via virtual POS terminals. There are also schemes designed for the legalization of proceeds from criminal activity through the use of various models of mass marketing.

The main money laundering schemes include transit money transfers received as a result of unknown activity, possibly criminal activity, through the banking system. They include also financial transactions carried out with the intention to avoid fulfilling tax obligations, conduct of illegal business, financial transactions aimed at concealing the volumes of economic activity.

The Financial Monitoring Center (FMC) was established in 2005 as a separate unit in the structure of the Central Bank of Armenia. The FMC is an administrative-type financial intelligence unit, which acts as an intermediary between reporting entities and law enforcement authorities. The mission of the FMC is to combat money laundering and terrorism financing (AML/CFT).

The main function of the FMC is to collect, analyze and exchange information for AML/CFT purposes. In addition, the FMC represents the Republic of Armenia in several international organizations and structures, while actively participating in international AML/CFT initiatives. The directions and targets of the AML/CFT regime are defined under the National Strategy for Combating Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing.

The authorities of the FMC are defined under the Republic of Armenia Law on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing, while the organizational structure and functions of the FMC are defined under the FMC Statute. ​​​($ 1 - 482.98 drams) . -0-