Topic: CFATF

The Financial Action Task Force has expressed concern that the Cayman Islands has not yet fulfilled an agreed action plan to remedy deficiencies in its anti-money laundering regime and said it will consider next steps, if all conditions are not met by June 2023.

The Ministry of Financial Services and Commerce rounded off its November engagement by addressing local and international stakeholders at last week's Cayman Captive Forum and the 55th Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) plenary.

The Cayman Islands will not be removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list of countries with significant deficiencies in their anti-money laundering (AML) regimes before June 2023 at the earliest.

The Cayman Islands remains on the Financial Action Task Force's grey list of 23 countries or jurisdictions that are subject to increased monitoring by the global anti-money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog.

A government delegation led by the Minister of Financial Services and Commerce, AndréEbanks, will update a Financial Action Task Force (FATF) review group on how the Cayman Islands has improved its effectiveness in fighting financial crimes. 

The Cayman Islands has further improved its technical compliance with the 40 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations relating to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).

The FATF argues that Cayman as a major financial centre should be held to a higher standard, in line with its larger anti-money laundering risks.

The Financial Action Task Force has added the Cayman Islands to its grey list of countries whose anti-money laundering (AML) practices are under increased monitoring.

On the eve of being reassessed by the Financial Action Task Force, the Cayman Islands government said it had made significant achievements in responding to a critical evaluation of its anti-money laundering regime.

Cayman’s regulatory framework for service providers in the virtual asset space entered into force on 31 Oct. with the first of two phases.

The Financial Reporting Authority faced a particularly challenging year in 2019 following a 22% increase in suspicious activity reports, staff resignations and the ongoing demands of the Caribbean Action Task Force anti-money laundering evaluation process.

Lawmakers this week passed a package of five bills to regulate virtual asset service providers. The Virtual Asset Service Provider Law, the central piece of legislation in the regulatory framework, demands that digital asset businesses must be registered with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority.

Members of the Legislative Assembly have adopted four bills related to Cayman’s regime for anti-money laundering and the countering of terrorism financing. Amendments to the Companies Law and the Limited Liability Companies Law introduce stricter administrative fines for Cayman’s beneficial-ownership regime, and ensure basic regulatory powers are listed on a company register and made available for public inspection.

In March of 2019, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force released a mutual evaluation report that found the Cayman Islands has major shortcomings in its ability to analyse and understand the risks from money laundering and terrorism financing.

When it comes to foisting nonsensical and onerous regulations on Cayman’s charitable organizations, here’s what Cayman’s government needs to do: Back off.