The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) held its last plenary meeting from 14 to 17 June 2022, with delegates from more than 200 jurisdictions.
The FATF expressed condolences to the Ukrainian people and issued a public statement that it decided to limit the role of the Russian Federation in the organization.
A guide has been published to help private sector participants to understand ML/TF risks and formulate measures to mitigate risks.
Although the General Assembly accepted the improvements made by Germany and the Netherlands on the AML/CFT side, it said some reforms still need to be worked on.
Mutual Evaluation of Germany and the Netherlands
The General Assembly concluded that although Germany has made improvements and made significant progress in the struggle against money laundering and the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) over the past five years, some of the recent reforms have not yet been fully effective.
The Netherlands has been praised for its remarkable improvements to the AML/CFT framework and for its substantial technical compliance with FATF standards. But the country has been encouraged to allocate more resources to strengthen its risk-based supervision and unlicensed combat fatalities.
Gibraltar Placed Under Increased Monitoring
The FATF has added Gibraltar to its grey list due to failures in the gambling sector. Gibraltar, now listed as subject to increased monitoring, has made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and MONEYVAL to improve identified shortcomings. When Gibraltar was placed under increased monitoring, it agreed to address identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and to be subject to extra controls.
Malta No Longer Under Increased Monitoring
Malta received praise from the General Assembly for its progress in correcting AML/CTF deficiencies. As a result, it was removed from the grey list a year later due to its significant progress. Malta will continue working with MONEYVAL to strengthen the AML/CTF regime.
New Strategic Initiatives
- Risk-based Approach Guidance for the Real Estate
Following a public consultation that ended in April, the FATF issued guidance aimed at helping to implement risk-based measures to avert money laundering and terrorist financing in the real estate sector. The advice will help private sector participants to understand the risks of CF and establish measures to prevent risks.
- Information Sharing and Data Protection
The FATF has stated that the relevant data and systems must be managed and designed by applicable data protection and privacy principles. It published a report incorporating observations and lessons learned from the FATF and members of its Global Network of countries seeking to engage in private sector information-sharing mechanisms while fulfilling their domestic data protection and privacy objectives and obligations.
- Implementing the FATF Standards on Virtual Assets/VASPs – Travel Rule
These updates on FATF regulations and their application were examined to protect VAs and VASPs against money laundering and all kind of financial attacks in the Plenary. The report focuses on implementing the FATF’s travel rule, which requires VASPs to collect or send information on the originators' and beneficiaries' identities with virtual asset transfers. The report emphasizes the urgent need for jurisdictions to implement and enforce the travel rule.
Improving Access to Beneficial Ownership Information
- Guidance to Implement the FATF Standard on Beneficial Ownership Information for Legal Person
At the Plenary, members discussed progress in developing guidelines that will help countries implement their revised requirements. The aim was to help countries implement these changes quickly. Delegates decided to seek the views of the targeted stakeholders before finalizing the guidance in October.
- Strengthening the FATF Standard on Beneficial Ownership Information for Trusts and Other Legal Arrangements
The FATF takes into account amendments to bolster Recommendation 25, which applies to trusts and other legal arrangements. Revisions goal a balanced and coherent approach to beneficial ownership in the FATF Recommendations.
- Implementing the Strategic Vision to Strengthen the Global Network
The FATF aims to strengthen the Global Network by implementing the March 2022 strategic vision and, in this direction, approve a series of actions to implement the March 2022 Strategic vision for the Global Network of 206 jurisdictions.
You can access the detailed document containing the FATF June 2022 General Assembly results here.
