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Latvia has been recognized as a high-risk country by SWIFT, the international network for the exchange of bank information, which ensures the settlement between the different countries of the world, was informed Tuesday, November 27 by the Minister of Finance, Dana Reizniece- Ozola (ZZS).
This decision, which made it difficult for Latvian companies to conclude international agreements, was taken after the Council of Europe's Expert Committee, Moneyval, issued a critical opinion on the ineffective fight against corruption. money laundering.
In order to exclude Latvia from "Moneyval" on the "gray list", one year has been spent on eliminating deficiencies. But because of the bad reputation of the Latvian financial system, businessmen are already suffering, said the finance minister.
Dana Reizniece-Ozola
Minister of Finance (ZZS)
Not yet in the "gray list", our businessmen are seeing the consequences of what is happening in the financial sector. Transfers abroad, which get used to earlier in the day in a few hours, sometimes require more than a week. Why Because all international banks use one of the payment systems, such as SWIFT. And SWIFT is currently a high-risk country in Latvia. If there is a higher amount or an unusual transaction for any of our companies, SWIFT will perform an additional check. It takes time and costs businesses money.
Sanda Liepiņa, Chairman of the Board of the Financial Industry Association, said: "You have to be absolutely confident that none of the counterparties have any link to these sanctions lists. Well, and most importantly, if we continue to impose that Latvia is a high-risk country, all this generates the extra time needed to carry out checks on various types of transactions, transfers. "
Sanda Liepiņa, chairman of the board of the Financial Industry Association, told LNT News that the transactions of Latvian entrepreneurs with CIS countries have become slower.
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