The recent FATF plenary, under US presidency, celebrated FATF’s 30th birthday. The meeting discussed:
- key strategic initiatives, including how to mitigate risks from virtual asset activities, and how to assess progress on effective implementation of AML/CFT measures and the assessment process. FATF has adopted updated guidance clarifying how the risk-based approach should apply and is now working on how to assess how countries have implemented its new requirement;
- recent mutual evaluations (of Greece and Hong Kong,China) and follow up reports (for Iceland and Brazil);
- updating the list of high-risk jurisdictions – which removed Serbia from the monitoring list and added Panama and also noted the need to monitor Iran’s actions towards addressing the deficiencies in its regulatory regime. FATF will put in place several enhanced requirements if Iran has not enacted the Palermo and Terrorist Financing Conventions in line with its standards by October; and
- adoption of guidance papers for lawyers, accountants and trust and company service providers.
Treasury has updated its advisory notice accordingly.