The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), an international body that oversees the sources of funds for terrorist activities, announced today that it has placed the Cayman Islands, Morocco, Senegal and Burkina Faso on its “gray list” of places to watch, representing increased oversight of local financial flows.
“Marcus Pleyer, chairman of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), said that North Korea and Iran remain the only two countries on the blacklist. The gray list now includes 19 countries or regions that do not fully comply with international regulations against terrorist financing and money laundering.
The Associated Press reports that the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering has 37 countries as members, as well as the European Commission and the Gulf Cooperation Council, two regional coalitions.
“The Wall Street Journal reports that the FATF report points out that the new graylisted countries or regions have different deficiencies, but mainly include whether to fully retain all relevant data on beneficial ownership, and whether it is necessary to expand the scope of government financial intelligence units. The scope of operation of the government financial intelligence unit.
The Cayman Islands was named as one of the countries where effective administrative penalties need to be imposed and actions strengthened to counter entities involved in illegal money laundering, as well as appropriate penalties for failure to provide timely and correct data on beneficial ownership.
The Cayman Islands is an important financial center,” Pryor said in a video press conference. We expect countries with a higher risk to respond equally to those risks.”
Pryor also named Morocco as a country that must strengthen its financial intelligence unit, as it is “one of the core authorities in the fight against money laundering.
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