The thirty three member body of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) convened in Plenary Session in Stockholm during October to set global standards in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
Terrorist Financing
According to President, Mr. Claes Norgren, the FATF has placed a high priority on fostering concrete action to dry up the flow of funds to terrorists".
Specifically:
" As part of the international campaign against terrorist financing, the FATF has decided to set forth in greater detail the obligations to freeze effectively terrorist-related assets as well as best practices to stem the flow of terrorist funds through the formal financial system. This is part of the process of providing guidance to jurisdictions and the international financial community to reduce the risk of terrorist financing."
The FATF is also taking concrete steps to assess the needs of countries for technical assistance to comply with the Eight Special Recommendations. These efforts are being undertaken with the Counter-Terrorism Action Group (CTAG) as well as with other international bodies, to ensure that the donor community is aware of specific technical needs to combat terrorist financing.
Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories
At its October Plenary, the FATF also reviewed the list of NCCTs.
The current list remains the same as in June 2003 and is as follows: Cook Islands, Egypt, Guatemala, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nigeria, Philippines and Ukraine. Accordingly, the FATF calls on its members to maintain their advisories requesting that their financial institutions give special attention to businesses and transactions with persons, including companies and financial institutions, in listed countries or territories.
The FATF welcomed further progress made by several jurisdictions on the list, including Ukraine which has recently submitted an implementation plan to Task Force.
At its next Plenary meeting on 25-27 February 2004, the FATF will review again the situation of each NCCT.
Collaboration between FATF and IFIs
The FATF is actively pursuing its collaboration with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to ensure that the Forty and Eight Special Recommendations are implemented worldwide.
During 2003, the FATF and these international financial institutions have been using a common methodology to assess compliance with standards. This process is now being updated to take into account the revised Forty Recommendations issued in June 2003. The FATF will continue to work closely with the IFIs.
Further information about the FATF, its efforts to combat terrorist financing, the Forty Recommendations and the present list of non-cooperative countries and territories can be found at its web site.