The International Monetary Fund and World Bank have committed to a comprehensive methodology to conduct assessments of the anti-money laundering and terrorist financing recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Formal endorsement of this methodology is expected at the FATF's upcoming Plenary this month.
In the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist actions, the Group of Seven (G-7) nations published a Plan of Action, which included recognition of the FATF 40 Recommendations as the "international standard". Since that time, the FATF, IMF and World Bank have been engaged in an attempt to finalise a common anti-money laundering methodology. (See related article on Combating Terrorism)
{*H}No New NCCTs##
The IMF has said one of its conditions in accepting the FATF 40+8 is that the Task Force does not undertake a further round of its Non Cooperative Countries & Territories (NCCT) initiative, at least during a 12-month pilot project.
Earlier this month, FATF Executive Secretary Peter Moulette indicated that there will be no new NCCTs added to its "blacklist", although admitting that counter-measures may be applied to countries currently classified.
The FATF is an independent international body whose Secretariat is housed at the OECD. The twenty nine member countries and governments of the FATF are: Argentina; Australia; Austria; Belgium; Brazil; Canada; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hong Kong, China; Iceland; Ireland; Italy; Japan; Luxembourg; Mexico; the Kingdom of the Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Portugal; Singapore; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Turkey; United Kingdom and the United States. Two international organisations are also members of the FATF: the European Commission and the Gulf Co-operation Council.
40+8
With the aim of reinforcing the international anti-money laundering standard and for the first time since the adoption of its Forty Recommendations in 1990, the FATF has issued a Consultation Paper, setting out a range of issues being considered as it reviews the Recommendations. Consultations regarding this paper are continuing and the review of the FATF world standards is expected to be completed early in 2003.
The Eight Special Recommendations were adopted by the FATF at an extraordinary Plenary meeting in Washington, D.C. in October, 2001. The Recommendations set out the key legislative and regulatory steps that countries need to have in place to effectively combat the financing of terrorism. The FATF subsequently held a Global Forum in Hong Kong in February 2002 to ensure world-wide acceptance of these standards. Since that time, the FATF has led a global self-assessment exercise in which over 100 jurisdictions have participated. The Bahamas was one of such jurisdictions, submitting its assessment forms to the Task Force in May.
CFATF
Bahamas Attorney General, the Hon. Alfred Sears, is slated to become the Chairman of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) in October.
The regional organisation has responsibility for establishing and monitoring standards of financial fidelity in the international financial systems of the Caribbean Basin Region and Bermuda. It promotes international cooperation between law enforcement and regulatory authorities in the fight against the abuse of regional financial systems.
"In these times when the movement of financial resources is needed to finance terrorist activities across the globe, the CFATF continues to work towards the strengthening of national legal and regulatory frameworks to effectively combat money laundering," states Calvin Wilson, Executive Director.