Frequently Asked Questions

Chairman's Summary, Paris Plenary, 25-27 February 2009

The FATF Plenary has this week taken important new steps to protect the international financial system from abuse, agreeing to:

Issue a Statement calling on its members, and urging all jurisdictions, to apply effective counter-measures to protect their financial sectors from the money laundering and terrorist financing risks emanating from Iran. The FATF also updated its previous Statement on the money laundering and terrorist financing risks emanating from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan and São Tomé and Príncipe.
Adopt an in-depth evaluation of the anti-money laundering and counter terrorist-financing system in South Africa.
Publish a detailed study on the money laundering and terrorist financing vulnerabilities in the casinos and gaming sector.
Analyse the impact of the global financial and economic crisis on efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

International co-operation issues

On 25 February 2009, the FATF Plenary released a statement concerning Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, São Tomé and Príncipe:

Click here to download the statement.

South Africa: Evaluation of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing action

The FATF discussed and adopted the mutual evaluation report of South Africa, which assesses its compliance with the international standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing - the 40+9 Recommendations. A summary of this comprehensive assessment is available on the FATF website, and the full report will be released in the coming weeks.

Money laundering and terrorist financing vulnerabilities in the casinos and gaming sector

The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering and the FATF finalised a comprehensive joint report: Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing Vulnerabilities of Gaming and Casinos Sector. The report examines and illustrates areas of vulnerability and emerging issues in this sector with a focus on legitimate gaming operations that have a physical presence.

The report concludes that there are regional and global vulnerabilities in the casinos and gaming sector which provide opportunities for money laundering and other financial crimes to flourish. In order to assist countries and gaming operators in dealing with these issues, the report provides sector-specific money laundering and terrorist financing indicators and highlights possible policy implications for effective implementation of the FATF Standards that cover casinos and gaming.

This report will be published on the websites of both the FATF and the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering in the coming weeks.

The impact of the global financial and economic crisis on AML/CFT

The FATF has agreed to a Dutch proposal to examine the impact of the global financial and economic crisis on efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Under this initiative, the FATF will take stock of the consequences of the financial and economic crisis for the FATF and identify issues for further analysis and discussion.

The FATF analysis will also look at the role AML/CFT measures have in national and global solutions to this crisis.

In addition, the FATF will continue to consider the measures which countries are taking to mitigate the impacts of the crisis as such measures should not undermine AML/CFT controls.

Antonio Gustavo Rodrigues
President, Financial Action Task Force

Notes:

1	For further information, journalists are invited to contact Helen Fisher, OECD Media Relations (tel: +33 1 45 24 80 97 or email: helen.fisher@oecd.org) or the FATF Secretariat (tel: +33 1 45 24 90 90, fax: +33 1 44 30 61 37 or email: contact@fatf-gafi.org).
2	The FATF is an inter-governmental body whose purpose is the development and promotion of policies, both at national and international levels, to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD.
3	The thirty-four members of the FATF are: Argentina; Australia; Austria; Belgium; Brazil; Canada; China; Denmark; the European Commission; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; the Gulf Co operation Council; Hong Kong, China; Iceland; Ireland; Italy; Japan; Luxembourg; Mexico; the Kingdom of the Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Portugal; the Russian Federation; Singapore; South Africa; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Turkey; the United Kingdom; and the United States.
4	India and the Republic of Korea are observer countries. The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), the Grupo de Acción Financiera de Sudamérica (GAFISUD), the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) and the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) are Associate Members.
5	The global network that is committed to combating money laundering and terrorist financing also includes three other regional bodies: the Eastern and South African Anti Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG), the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG) and the Groupe Inter-gouvernemental d’Action Contre le Blanchiment en Afrique (GIABA) . The Offshore Group of Banking Supervisors (OGBS) is a part of this network as well.