A report by a Council of Europe watchdog has highlighted progress made by the Isle of Man in tackling money laundering.

But we remain in ’enhanced follow-up’ and will have to report back to MoneyVal on further steps to implement anti-money laundering and terrorist financing measures.

The MoneyVal report says the island is now fully compliant with 20 out of 40 recommendations on meeting international standards. The results are important for the island’s external relations.

There remain minor deficiencies in the implementation of another 19 recommendations, and larger-scale deficiencies for only one.

This the third MoneyVal follow-up report since an evaluation carried out in 2016.

The report says the island had made progress in addressing technical compliance deficiencies.

One area has been re-rated from ’largely compliant’ to ’compliant’.

But another, where the recommendations have changed since 2016, has been downgraded from ’compliant’ to ’largely compliant’.

And a third area remains ’partially compliant’.

This relate to independent audits by non-financial businesses including online gambling operators and a requirement to have group-wide programmes against money laundering and terrorist financing.

The report concludes: ’The Isle of Man will remain in enhanced follow-up and will continue to report back to MoneyVal on progress to strengthen its implementation of AML/CFT measures.

’The Isle of Man is expected to report back to the plenary within one year.’