Financial Services, Latvia, Legislation

The contract amount is EUR 41,900 (VAT exclusive), according to the announcement about the conctract. Three companies -- "Promontory Financial Group, LLC", Crowe Horwath LLP and Navigant Consulting, Inc. participated in the tender to develop this methodology for the FKTK, and the latter was selected as the winner.

FKTK spokeswoman Elina Avotina told LETA that the watchdog was not only following the best European practices but also wanted to strengthen cooperation with the United States.

Hiring independent experts to work on the scope and methodology of the anti-money laundering compliance test is a usual practice for the developed countries, and the contractor is an internationally recognized and competent company that has provided services to the leading US financial institutions, the FKTK said.

For better representation of Latvia’s interests in the matters related to financial services, the FKTK in September 2015 appointed its representative to the United States, Arnis Lagzdins, who has the diplomatic rank of an attache.

In December 2015 the members of the Latvian parliamentary committee on budget and finances (taxes) criticized the performance of the financial watchdog and called for strengthening of its capacity.