CFATF News

Press Release

The Central Bank is today releasing an anti-money laundering (AML) compliance report prepared by Evaluasi, a specialist firm comprising some of the world’s leading AML researchers. The Central Bank commissioned Evaluasi to conduct an assurance study or “shadow shopping” exercise on a large majority (more than 75%) of Bahamian internationally active public banks and trust companies.

The exercise involved email approaches to each of a pool of 50 institutions, seeking interest in opening either a bank or trust account. Such exercises, which are common in many industries such as retail trade, are less common in financial supervision. To our knowledge this is the first time any financial regulator has conducted a shadow shopping exercise on an entire class of supervised institutions to check AML compliance.

The results of the exercise included:

Consistent with their business models, only 16 of the 50 financial institutions responded to the approximately 250 email solicitations. This demonstrates that The Bahamas is not a particularly welcoming jurisdiction for unsolicited potential client approaches.

Most happily, 100 per cent of the engagements between the 16 responding firms and the shadow shopping team evidenced that the responding institutions provided upfront disclosure of the relevant AML requirements, notably the know your customer (KYC) rules coupled with FATCA and CRS reporting requirements.

This result is similar to a 2020 multi-country exercise conducted by the Evaluasi researchers, in which a smaller set of Bahamian institutions also recorded a perfect compliance result. The Bahamas was one of only four jurisdictions to do so.

The 2023 shadow shopping result, in addition to the 2020 result, gives good assurance that Bahamian banks and trust companies demonstrate a strong compliance culture. Furthermore, banks and trust companies are only willing to on-board clients that can satisfy the relevant KYC as well as FATCA and CRS reporting requirements consistent with international standards codified in the legal and policy frameworks of this jurisdiction.

These results are also consistent with the Central Bank’s examination and supervision results. Broadly, The Bahamian international banking and trust sectors do not welcome dubious new clients.

According to Governor John Rolle: “This shadow shopping exercise demonstrates that the Central Bank will take a more proactive and more holistic approach to assessing the state of AML compliance within this jurisdiction supplemental to its traditional supervisory tools. We want our industry to demonstrate exemplary AML compliance, which in this instance they have done. This is not to say that our supervised institutions are perfect in an AML compliance sense, but this and many other findings suggest that Bahamian banks and trust companies are among the stronger groups globally when it comes to avoiding new clients who cannot demonstrate clean sources of funds.”

The report is accessible on the Central Bank’s website at www.centralbankbahamas.com, on the main page under Press Releases

17 May 2023

CFATF MINISTERIAL SUB-COMMITTEE MEETS WITH FATF PRESIDENT

At the October 2022 Council of Ministers meeting, Ministers agreed to the formation of a Ministerial Financial Sub-Committee to review the resourcing of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) for its current Mutual Evaluation Programme, the upcoming 5^th Round of Assessments and the general operations of the organisation.

The Ministerial Financial Sub-Committee is led by the CFATF Chairman, the Honourable Samuel Bulgin, KC, JP, Attorney General of the Cayman Islands and comprises Ministers or their representatives from Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The Executive Director, Deputy Executive Directors and the Director of Finance and Administration are also members of the Sub-Committee.

The first meeting of the Ministerial Sub-Committee was held on the 30^th of January, 2023 and hosted by the Honourable Ryan Pinder, Attorney General of The Bahamas. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) President, Mr. T. Raja Kumar was invited to meet with the Sub-Committee with the meeting signalling the firm commitment of the Region at the Ministerial level towards ensuring the continuance of the CFATF as a body focused on the implementation the FATF Standards by its Members.

Given the ongoing global economic challenges, the development of a plan of action to ensure the financial sustainability of the CFATF is critical. Accordingly, the meeting explored various short, medium, and long-term funding options for the efficient allocation of resources to complete the CFATF’s 4^th Round of Mutual Evaluations. Consideration was also given to the additional human resources required to conduct the 5^th Round of Mutual Evaluation Assessments. As a result, there was an exchange of ideas as to areas that should be prioritized and an understanding of the assistance that the FATF can provide. Issues such as the listing of Members, the FATF ICRG process and de-risking were also discussed.

The work of the Ministerial Sub-Committee is ongoing.

Photo: The CFATF Chairman, the Honourable Samuel Bulgin, KC, JP, Attorney General, Cayman Islands (right) and FATF President, Mr. T. Raja Kumar, Singapore.

Photo: From left to right: Mrs. Cheryl Greenidge, Director, Bank Supervision Department, Central Bank of Barbados; Senator the Hon. Reginald T. A. Armour S.C., Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Trinidad and Tobago; Hon. Rhondalee Braithwaite-Knowles, OBE, KC, Attorney General, Turks and Caicos Islands; Mrs. Cheryl-Ann Lister, Financial Secretary (Ag.), Bermuda and CFATF Immediate Past Chairman; Senator the Hon. Ryan Pinder, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, The Bahamas; Mr. T. Raja Kumar, FATF President, Singapore; Hon. Samuel Bulgin, KC, JP, CFATF Chairman and Attorney General, Cayman Islands; Hon. Dale Marshall, K.C., M.P., Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Barbados; Ms. Maurene Simms, Special Advisor to the Governor of the Bank of Jamaica; Ms. Dawne Spicer, Executive Director, CFATF Secretariat; Mrs. Vyana Sharma, Head, Anti-Terrorism Unit, Office of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs, Trinidad and Tobago; Mr. Francis Arana, Head of the Anti-Money Laundering Uni, Attorney General’s Chambers, Cayman Islands; Dr. Cassandra Nottage, National Identified Risk Framework Coordinator, The Bahamas; Ms. Simone Ebanks, Policy Analyst, Anti-Money Laundering Unit, Attorney General’s Chambers; Cayman Islands; Ms. Yolande Rolle, Deputy Legal Counsel, Insurance Commission of The Bahamas; Ms. Tiffany Moss, Chief Financial Officer, Portfolio of Legal Affairs, The Bahamas; Ms. Michelle Dean, Deputy Director of Legal Affairs (Ag.) Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs, The Bahamas; Mr. Angelo Brete, Deputy Chair, CFATF, Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit, Aruba; Ms. Magdalene Walcott, Director Finance and Administration, CFATF Secretariat; Lt. Col Edward Croft, Director, Office of National Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy (ONDCP), Antigua and Barbuda; Mr. Loxly Ricketts, Deputy Executive Director, CFATF Secretariat.

Fourth Round Mutual Evaluation Report of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

The CFATF Plenary held in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands in November 2022 adopted the Mutual Evaluation Report of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. This evaluation summarises the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) / Counter-Terrorist Financing (CFT) measures in place in Venezuela as of the date of the on-site visit conducted from 17 to 28 January 2022. The report analyses the level of compliance with the FATF 40 Recommendations, and the level of effectiveness of Venezuela’s AML/CFT system, and provides recommendations on how the system could be strengthened.

Click here to access the report.

Jamaica Wins Inaugural CFATF Best Case Award

CFATF 55^th Plenary and Working Group Meetings

Photo: Best Case Trophy awarded to Jamaica at the CFATF’s 55^th Plenary and Working Group Meetings

Port of Spain, Trinidad, January 13, 2023 – The CFATF Risk Trends and Methods Group (CRTMG) meeting was held in the margins of the CFATF’s 55^th Plenary and Working Group Meetings held in the Cayman Islands (November 27^th – December 1^st, 2022).

This was the inaugural bestowing of such an award, by the CFATF, to a member jurisdiction that achieved success in demonstrating some of the characteristics of an effective AML/CFT system, as reflected by the winning case. The initiation of this award is intended to encourage CFATF members to showcase the successful operational efforts of their competent authorities through the contribution of cases to the CRTMG’s annual ML/TF typologies update. The twenty-four-member organisation used a voting procedure to decide which member jurisdiction presented the best case.

Money Laundering & Terrorism Financing Risks Through the use of Virtual Assets
and
Virtual Asset Service Providers

During the period December 2021 to December 2022, the CFATF conducted a survey on the usage of Virtual Assets (VAs) and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) in the Caribbean Region. The survey was aimed, in part, at examining how VAs function, integrate and contribute to the financial sector in the Caribbean region and to gain an understanding of how the inherent risks posed are mitigated by the financial and corporate sector when providing VA services. The result of the survey is contained in a report, which provides recommendations on the steps countries can take to enable and bolster the infrastructure needed to support actions aimed at mitigating the risk associated with VAs and VASPs.

Click here for the complete report.