The office of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Legal Affairs on Monday released a statement which outlined The Bahamas’ success as it relates to the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).
The statement outlined that the results of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force Mutual Evaluation Report reflected that The Bahamas received ‘largely compliant or compliant’ ratings in 18 of the 40 Financial Action Task Force recommendations, while posting ‘partially compliant’ ratings in 21 Financial Action Task Force Recommendations and a ‘non-compliant’ rating in one Financial Action Task Force Recommendation.
Both internationally and regionally, The Bahamas has been praised for its significant efforts and achievements over the last 15 months to address deficiencies identified in its Caribbean Financial Action Task Force mutual evaluation report, which was approved in May of this year.
The report recently listed The Bahamas in its ‘compliance document’ following its October 2018 plenary in France. Officials explained that it is not a “blacklist” but a monitoring list. The report also recognized that The Bahamas has in a very short period of time made significant and important progress towards fully addressing all deficiencies.
The statement outlined that the Bahamas has formally communicated a high level of political commitment and will to address the remaining implementation issues, and have noted that within the international and regional organizations, there has been favorably recognition of the tremendous effort that The Bahamas has expanded to enable it to be the first of the countries (Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda) in the Fourth Round CFATF Mutual Evaluations, to request re-rating of its legal provisions to address FATF Recommendations.
“Note is also made that all countries having undergone the Fourth Round CFATF Mutual Evaluations are confronting new standards on ‘Effectiveness Ratings’ and substantial challenges in ensuring that ‘sufficient progress’ is being made to comply with these newly introduced international standards. The Bahamas is committed as a member of the international financial community, to implement and maintain an appropriate, effective National Identified Risk Framework Strategy which incorporates its AML/CFT/PF regime,” the statement read.
