Meeting of the FATF Plenary, Paris 22-24 October 2014

The 36 members of the Financial Action Task Group (FATF) and representatives from the FATF-Style Regional Bodies will meet in Paris, under the of Mr. Roger Wilkins AO of Australia.

Now in its 25^th year of existence, the FATF sets standards and promotes effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system. The decision-making body of the FATF is the FATF Plenary, which is supported by a number of Working Groups.

Some of the issues on the agenda for the Plenary meeting are:

• A discussion of the outcomes of the mutual evaluations reports of Norway and Spain. These are the first reports of the fourth round of mutual evaluations and use the 2012 Methodology which assesses both technical compliance and the effectiveness of a country’s anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures.
• A discussion of the consequences of a too-rigid application of AML/CFT measures, without conducting the proper risk-assessment that is required by FATF’s standards. This could result in the practice of ‘de-risking’ which could in turn drive illicit markets and financial exclusion. The FATF will discuss guidance to banks and other financial institutions, a more flexible regulatory practice and standards, and more refined and intelligent assessment of risk.
  • Further reading, The danger of driving both illicit markets and financial exclusion
• Adoption of the Guidance on transparency and beneficial ownership which will assist countries to design and implement measures that will deter and prevent the misuse of corporate vehicles, such as companies, trusts and other types of legal persons and arrangements – for money laundering, terrorist financing and other illicit purposes.
• Engagement with the FATF-Style Regional Bodies through the Global Network Co-ordination Group to ensure effective global implementation of the revised FATF Recommendations.
• Review of the implementation of measures taken by a number of countries to address deficiencies identified in the last round of mutual evaluation reports.
• Identification of jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in their AML/CFT system and a review of progress made by jurisdictions that had been identified at the June 2014 Plenary. 

A summary of outcomes will be published at the end of the meeting. 

Contacts

For further information, please contact the FATF Secretariat at contact@fatf-gafi.org.