Jersey cannot rule out the possibility that it might join Gibraltar on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) so-called grey list after it undergoes an inspection by Moneyval next year, newly appointed Treasury minister Ian Gorst has warned.
According to the Bailiwick Express, Deputy Ian Gorst said at a conference briefing on the island that the grey listing of such international finance centres as Gibraltar and the Cayman Islands was proof that Jersey could not be complacent.
Gorst was speaking at St Helier's Radisson Blu Waterfront Hotel to a large gathering of finance professionals organised by the Jersey Government to keep them up speed of the crown dependency's forthcoming inspection by Moneyval.
Moneyval is one of eight FATF Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs) who have been established for the purpose of disseminating the FATF international standards throughout the world.
The Bailiwick Express reported that Gorst said: "Over the last four years an enormous amount of work has been done not only by Government but also by Island agencies and you the industry as well to ensure that we comply with the international standards as set by FATF.
"These standards are universally recognised as the benchmark in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
"It has been said many times, but bears repeating, that financial crime is constantly evolving and becoming more sophisticated and complex, meaning that new threats are regularly emerging for Jersey.
"As an international finance centre, we are inevitably exposed to such threats and have a social and economic duty to do all we can to detect and prevent financial crime."
On 17 June, International Investment reported that FATF put Gibraltar on its grey list of jurisdictions subject to increased monitoring after finding that the overseas territory's regulators are not fining offenders in line with prescribed penalties or focusing hard enough on intermediaries, including lawyers.
https://www.internationalinvestment.net/news/4051572/gibraltar-joins-uae-fatf-grey-list-government-responds-aml-scrutiny
Its plenary decision-making body also took Malta off its grey list.
Gibraltar now sits on the list of "jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies" with the UAE, Cayman Islands, Barbados and Panama among others.
