The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has added three new jurisdictions to its “grey list” focused on areas subject to increased monitoring for deficiencies in fighting financial crime.
Turkey, Jordan, and Mali were added as part of an Oct. 21 update acknowledging jurisdictions working with the FATF to improve the countering of money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. Overall, 23 jurisdictions currently comprise the FATF’s list.
“The FATF does not call for the application of enhanced due diligence measures to be applied to these jurisdictions, but encourages its members and all jurisdictions to take into account the information presented … in their risk analysis,” the intergovernmental organization stated.
Turkey becomes the largest economy to be represented on the list.
The FATF simultaneously announced the removal of Botswana and Mauritius from its list following a progress review conducted since June. The organization said both countries have made “significant progress” in strengthening the effectiveness of their anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime, as well as addressing related technical deficiencies identified by the FATF.
Each of the three new jurisdictions added this month have been tasked with improving their AML/CFT regime. In Turkey, from an enforcement and compliance standpoint, some goals include increasing on-site inspections; applying dissuasive sanctions for AML/CFT breaches; enhancing the use of financial intelligence to support money laundering investigations; and undertaking “more complex money laundering investigations and prosecutions.”
The FATF also lauded a handful of improvements Turkey has made in the last two years, including its establishment of a beneficial ownership registry and increased level of seizures of smuggled cash across borders.
In Mali, some goals include disseminating the results of its newly adopted national risk assessment to all relevant stakeholders; implementing a risk-based approach for AML/CFT supervision of all financial institutions and high-risk designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs) and demonstrating effective, proportionate, and dissuasive sanctions for noncompliance; and conducting a comprehensive assessment of money laundering/terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks associated with all types of legal persons.
In Jordan, some goals include completing and disseminating ML/TF risk assessments of nonprofit organizations (NPOs), legal persons, and virtual assets; improving risk-based supervision and applying effective, proportionate, and dissuasive sanctions for noncompliance; conducting training and awareness-raising programs for DNFBPs on their AML/CFT obligations, particularly with regard to filing and submitting suspicious transaction reports; maintaining comprehensive and updated basic and beneficial ownership information on legal persons and legal arrangements; and pursuing ML investigations and prosecutions, including through parallel financial investigations.
Both Mali and Jordan have also been tasked with developing a legal framework to implement targeted financial sanctions. All three countries have been tasked with implementing a risk-based approach to supervision of NPOs to prevent terrorist financing abuses.
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