NICOSIA – Battling a longstanding reputation as a haven for foreigners to hide money and illicit gains, Cyprus is making some inroads in trying to deal with the problem that includes terrorist financing.

That was the evaluation of the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) set out by the  Financial Action Task Force (FATF), according to a report by the international group the Financial Action Task Force (FATF.) Cyprus hasn’t finished three of 40 recommendations, said MONEYVAL in a progress report that said the government of President Nicos Anastasiades met several compliance goals but not in time to be assessed.

The report said MONEYVAL asked Cypriot authorities to report on their progress on implementing the remaining recommendations wherein Cyprus was judged to be only “partially compliant,” said Kathimerini.

The progress report examines a series of legislative, regulatory and institutional measures implemented by the Cypriot authorities in relation to risk assessment and monitoring in the non-profit sector, as well as the evaluation of banks’ customer relations.

Cyprus ended a program to give visas to wealthy foreigners after reports they hadn’t been fully vetted for criminal activity and that a number shouldn’t have been given residency permits that came with European Union passports.