Bahamas now largely compliant on all 40 FATF recommendations

Bahamas now largely compliant on all 40 FATF recommendations

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Bahamas has become only the second jurisdiction in the region to be largely compliant with all 40 of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) recommendations.

Prior to the re-rating, the two recommendations that this nation was only partially complaint on were Recommendation 8, which deals with non-profit organizations; and Recommendation 15, which deals with new technologies and addresses the effective regulation and supervision/monitoring of virtual asset service providers.

“The Bahamas has been in an enhanced follow-up process, following the adoption of the CFATF mutual evaluation report, which assessed the effectiveness of The Bahamas’ anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) measures and the country’s compliance with the FATF Recommendations. In line with the CFATF Procedures for the Fourth Round of AML/CFT Mutual Evaluations, The Bahamas has reported back to the CFATF on the progress it has made to strengthen its AML/CFT framework,” the CFATF said in a statement.

Acknowledging the re-rating The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) in a statement noted, “The country’s Fifth Follow-Up Report was released today by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force and documents the analysis of The Bahamas’ progress in addressing the technical compliance deficiencies identified in the published 2017 mutual evaluation and revisions of the Financial Action Task Force’s Recommendations.”

“The Bahamas, as a result of the progress in strengthening its framework to tackle money laundering, terrorist, and proliferation financing since the 2017 published mutual evaluation report, was assessed by financial experts of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force and received re-ratings of ‘compliant’ on the last two recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force’s 40 Recommendations, that were rated ‘partially compliant’. Those recommendations notably held the requirements for non-profit organizations (Recommendation 8) and virtual assets (Recommendation 15).”

The OAG added: “The success we have achieved in reclaiming the country’s standing in the fight against money laundering, terrorism, and proliferation was due to the seamless passing of the baton by three leaders – Hon. Allyson Maynard-Gibson, Hon. Carl Bethel, and Hon. Ryan Pinder during this marathon. We sincerely wish to thank these three notable persons that ensured the necessary governmental support was always given to the IRF Steering Committee.”