Mutual Evaluation of the United States

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Asia Pacific Group (APG) have jointly assessed the United States’ anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) standards. Among the major findings of the report were:

• The United States has a comprehensive legal and institutional framework for investigating and prosecuting money laundering and terrorist financing offenses.

• The United States vigorously pursues, seizes and confiscates the assets of criminals involved in money-laundering and terrorist financing.

• The United States has an effective regulatory and supervisory framework for monitoring compliance with AML/CFT measures and has imposed severe financial penalties on financial institutions that do not comply with the measures.

• Customer identification requirements apply to most types of financial institutions; however, these could be strengthened, particularly in relation to the identification of beneficial owners.

• AML/CFT measures presently apply to a broad range of financial institutions; however, the FATF recommends that comprehensive AML/CFT measures should also apply to a wider range of non-financial businesses and professions.

• Company formation procedures and reporting requirements are such that the information on beneficial ownership of legal persons may not, in most instances, be adequate, accurate or available on a timely basis.

This mutual evaluation was conducted using the FATF Recommendations as published in October 2004, and the 2004 Methodology for Assessing Compliance with the FATF 40 Recommendations and FATF 9 Special Recommendations.