December 14, 2023
Posted by Chandni

14 Dec

On December 4, 2023, HM Treasury issued an Advisory Notice, updating high-risk third countries due to significant deficiencies in their Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Counter-Terrorist Financing (CTF), and Counter-Proliferation Financing (CPF) frameworks.

To know more, click here https://www.fcctimes.com/2023/12/04/hm-treasury-alert-tightened-aml-measures-for-high-risk-countries-key-updates/?utm_source=RZOLUTWebsite&utm_medium=FCCRegUpdate14Dec

Effective from December 5, 2023, as per the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (High-Risk Countries) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2023, this aligns with recent Financial Action Task Force (FATF) updates, reflecting jurisdictions under increased monitoring and those subject to a call for action.

This update adds countries with specific enhancements:

Bulgaria: Enhancing technical compliance, risk-based supervision, accurate ownership data, automated STR prioritization, improved investigations, and targeted financial sanctions frameworks.
Cameroon: Improving international cooperation, bank supervision, beneficial ownership access, and risk-based approaches, especially for NGOs.
Croatia: Regulating VASPs, enforcing sanctions, strengthening preventive measures, boosting FIU resources, and establishing a national framework for UN TFS.
Nigeria: Disseminating risk assessments, aligning strategies, improving international cooperation, AML/CFT supervision, timely beneficial ownership access, and efforts against terrorist financing.
South Africa: Addressing deficiencies with improved international cooperation, enhanced supervision, and proactive outreach to at-risk NPOs.
Vietnam: Improving risk understanding, addressing compliance deficiencies through enhanced international cooperation, effective supervision, and prioritized financial investigations.

Four countries were removed during this FATF session:

Albania: Strengthening its AML/CFT regime, addressing FATF deficiencies through analyses, formalizing the economy, and reducing ML/TF risks.
Cayman Islands: Fortifying its regime with effective sanctions, accurate beneficial ownership, and targeted money laundering prosecutions.
Jordan: Improving its AML/CFT regime, addressing strategic deficiencies with risk assessments, updated ownership information, and enhanced money laundering investigations and prosecutions.
Panama: Addressing ML/TF risks by targeting unlicensed remitters, verifying beneficial ownership, and using FIU products.

Updated list of high-risk third countries: