FCC RegUpdate

30 Oct

On October 27, 2023, the international financial crime watchdog, the FATF, added Bulgaria to its “grey list” of countries. With this addition, the grey list now consists of 23 member countries. The FATF grey list includes countries with strategic deficiencies in countering money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing.

To know more, read here https://www.fcctimes.com/2023/10/27/fatf-announces-new-grey-list-inclusion-and-reviews-progress-of-jurisdictions-in-aml-cft-efforts/

  • Bulgaria: Bulgaria was added to the jurisdictions under increased monitoring due to deficiencies in its AML/CFT regime as assessed by both FATF and MONEYVAL. These deficiencies include technical compliance issues, a lack of risk-based supervision, inaccurate beneficial ownership information, delays in reporting of STRs (Suspicious Transaction Reports), and gaps in the targeted financial sanctions framework.

Additionally, during this high-level session of the FATF and FATF-style regional bodies, four countries were removed from the list:

  • Albania: Albania improved its AML/CFT regime to address FATF’s strategic deficiencies, including conducting in-depth analyses, formalizing the economy, reducing ML/TF risks related to the widespread use of cash, enhancing property registration, legal assistance, and increasing prosecutions, ultimately eliminating FATF’s increased monitoring process.
  • Cayman Islands: The Cayman Islands strengthened their regime by implementing effective, proportionate, and dissuasive sanctions. They also addressed inaccurate beneficial ownership information and increased money laundering prosecutions in line with the jurisdiction’s risk profile.
  • Jordan: Jordan made progress in its AML/CFT regime by addressing strategic deficiencies identified in October 2021. Their regime now includes risk assessments, risk-based supervision, updated ownership information, money laundering investigations, prosecutions, and risk-based monitoring of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
  • Panama: Panama enhanced its understanding of national and sectoral ML/TF (money laundering/terrorist financing) risks, took action to identify unlicensed money remitters, verified beneficial ownership information, and used FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit) products for ML investigations. These efforts allowed Panama to focus on high-risk areas identified in the NRA (National Risk Assessment) and MER (Mutual Evaluation Report), eliminating the need for increased FATF monitoring.

There have been no changes to the black-listed countries, which includes the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Iran, and Myanmar.

FATF Grey List as of October 27, 2023:

  1. Barbados
  2. Bulgaria
  3. Burkina Faso
  4. Cameroon
  5. Croatia
  6. Democratic Republic of Congo
  7. Gibraltar
  8. Haiti
  9. Jamaica
  10. Mali
  11. Mozambique
  12. Nigeria
  13. Philippines
  14. Senegal
  15. South Africa
  16. South Sudan
  17. Syria
  18. Tanzania
  19. Türkiye (Turkey)
  20. Uganda
  21. United Arab Emirates
  22. Vietnam
  23. Yemen