The new Bulgarian Whistleblower Protection Act came into force on 4 May 2023. Its scope includes local and public authorities, as well as private sector enterprises with more than 50 employees. Bulgaria was late with the transposition of the EU Whistleblower Directive and was sanctioned by the European Commission for this failure. The process took longer due to political instability and changing governmental priorities. When it comes to the public consultation process – initial drafts of the text were showing lack of awareness about the role of whistleblowers as primary source of revealing organisational wrongdoing. Bulgarian legislators were unsure about and institutional set-up for facilitating the whistleblowing process. Continue reading…

According to Reuters, since 2009, regulators have sanctioned companies operating in the financial sector with more than $ 342 billion for their failures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. As such harsh sanctions may easily ruin the business of even a very promising Fintech company, many should consider to hire a KYC/AML provider. They, however, should do so wisely. There are many AML / KYC products on the market worldwide, making money laundering prevention a profitable industry. Choosing the right service provider for your business is a complex and responsible endeavour. The goal of this article is to help companies structure the vendor search process, formulate the right questions for the request for proposal and advise on how to reduce compliance risks when outsourcing AML/CTF processes.

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by Elina Karpacheva

Countries’ sanctions regimes are always closely related to politics and foreign policy. Hence, international sanctions will be one of the areas where U.K. will exercise its post-Brexit sovereignty to the fullest. The British government has already prepared the grounds for its autonomous sanctions regime by adopting the Sanctions and Anti-money Laundering Act in 2018. Continue reading…

With the adoption of the 5th AMLD all types of FinTech businesses are already legally obliged to keep up with the high AML/CTF standard designated for traditional financial institutions. The legal uncertainty around virtual asset providers (cryptocurrency exchanges, wallet providers, etc.) is overcome. These players are obliged to implement a sound AML compliance programme. European regulatory development comes much later then the US one. Already in 2013, FinCEN published a Guidance on the Application of FinCEN’s Regulations to Persons Administering, Exchanging, or Using Virtual currencies. Regulatory scrutiny is rising. The 5th AMLD provides for enhanced cooperation between FIUs and financial supervisors, meaning that transboundary nature of ML/TF cases will not impede enforcement anymore. Designation of European Banking Authority as a common EU-wide supervisory body could allow more standardised law enforcement policy. By contrast with Europe, the US authorities already have solid experience in enforcement actions against FinTech companies. Continue reading…