Cayman and Barbados still on FATF ‘grey list’ but progress acknowledged
FATF notes steps taken by domiciles on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism
At its recent plenary meeting in Paris, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has noted the steps taken by two leading captive domiciles, Cayman Islands and Barbados, towards improving their anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) regimes.
Both domiciles are under increased monitoring by the FATF, also known as the FATF “grey list”, and were urged by the FATF to continue working on implementing action plans to address their strategic deficiencies.
The FATF explained that when the FATF places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring, “it means the country has committed to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring”, adding: “This list is often externally referred to as the ‘grey list’.”
The FATF said: “The Cayman Islands has taken steps towards improving its AML/CFT regime, including by imposing adequate and effective sanctions in cases where relevant parties (including legal persons) do not file accurate, adequate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information in line with those requirements. The Cayman Islands should continue to work on implementing its action plan to address its strategic deficiencies, including by demonstrating that they are prosecuting all types of money laundering cases in line with the jurisdiction’s risk profile and that such prosecutions are resulting in the application of dissuasive, effective and proportionate sanctions.”
The move was welcomed by Cayman Finance CEO Steve McIntosh: “The FATF acknowledged that the Cayman Islands continues to strengthen its anti-money laundering regime by ‘imposing adequate and effective sanctions for parties who fail to file accurate, adequate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information’, thus satisfying the recommended action with respect to Immediate Outcome 5.”
He added: “This represents significant progress towards the jurisdiction’s removal from the FATF ‘grey list’ and demonstrates our industry’s commitment to meeting the highest global standards for transparency, information sharing and the combatting of international financial crime. The Cayman Islands was one of the first countries in the world to implement a verified register of beneficial owners, a result of the collaborative relationship between our financial services industry and government.”
The FATF said: “Barbados should continue to work on implementing its action plan to address its strategic deficiencies, including by: (1) taking appropriate measures to prevent legal persons and arrangements from being misused for criminal purposes, and ensuring that accurate and up-to-date basic and beneficial ownership information is available on a timely basis; (2) demonstrating that money laundering investigations and prosecutions are in line with the country’s risk profile; (3) further pursuing confiscation in money laundering cases, including by repatriating or sharing confiscated assets with other countries.”
