G20 confirm their support for the FATF as the global standard-setter to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing.

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English

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FATF General

7 April 2021 - G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors today confirmed their commitment to tackling all sources, techniques and channels of money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation. They emphasised the importance, in particular, of combatting financial crimes linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his speech to the G20, FATF President Dr. Marcus Pleyer highlighted the importance of risk-based supervision to effectively detect and prevent financial crimes that undermine global economies and hinder economic recovery. Dr. Pleyer called upon the G20 to lead on a change of regulatory culture. Today, many supervisors and compliance officers still merely take a basic tick-box approach: making sure forms are filled in correctly instead of focussing on the real risks. The FATF last month released a Guidance for risk-based supervision, which will help supervisors address the full spectrum of money laundering and terrorist financing risks and focus resources where they are most needed.

The G20 welcomed the FATF’s ongoing work to fight environmental crime by preventing corruption and illicit finance associated with the illegal exploitation of natural resources. The G20 recognised the impact of environmental crime on climate and bio-diversity. Environmental crime is one of the priorities of the FATF, which builds on earlier work to tackle money laundering linked to the illegal wildlife trade.

The G20 acknowledged the relevance of the FATF’s second 12-month review on the global implementation of the FATF standards on virtual assets and virtual assets service providers, recognising that so-called stable coins are covered by the FATF standards.

G20 Finance Ministers committed to further strengthening the FATF’s Global Network of regional bodies in order to reinforce the effective implementation of the FATF standards.