17/12/2025
On 16 December 2025, the FATF published its mutual evaluation of Belgium. The report assesses Belgium's effectiveness in combating money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing (AML/CFT/CPF). The results are based on visits in January and February 2025.
The evaluation shows that the Belgian AML/CFT/CPF framework is largely in line with international standards, partly thanks to changes since the last evaluation in 2015. At the same time, the FATF stresses that the effectiveness of measures in key risk areas needs to be further strengthened, with a special focus on virtual assets. Belgium has a solid foundation, but must now focus on effectiveness, capacity and supervision in order to adequately manage current and future risks.
Supervision
The supervision of financial institutions is generally risk-based and effective, but the detection of illegal activities remains limited, particularly in the virtual assets sector and informal money flows. The lack of a competent supervisory authority for virtual asset providers is explicitly mentioned as a weakness in this regard. Furthermore, the limited use and publication of administrative sanctions reduces the deterrent effect and educational value of supervision.
However, supervision of non-financial sectors is fragmented and uneven. Due to a shortage of staff, only a limited number of inspections have been carried out, despite high non-compliance rates. The responsible authorities must therefore strengthen their technical resources and increase the number of employees in order to be able to carry out targeted and effective supervision, especially in high-risk sectors.
Discover the essential AML compliance terminology and gain instant access to a comprehensive guide