Croatia added as only EU country on new FATF grey list, UAE remains

Cameroon, Croatia and Vietnam have joined the FATF grey list while Russia's membership remains suspended, the third Plenary of the FATF under the Presidency of T. Raja Kumar of Singapore revealed in a statement as it concluded today (23 June).

Delegates from over 200 jurisdictions of the Global Network and observers from international organisations participated in these discussions at the FATF headquarters in Paris. 

Jurisdictions under increased monitoring are actively working with the FATF to address the strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing. When the FATF places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring, it means the country has committed to implement an Action Plan to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes. 

New jurisdictions subject to increased monitoring are Cameroon, Croatia and Vietnam.

The jurisdictions already in the grey list as at 24 February 2023 are: Albania, Barbados, Burkina Faso, Cayman Islands, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gibraltar, Haiti, Jamaica, Jordan, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Panama, Philippines, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Türkiye, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.

The FATF reiterated its deepest sympathies to the people of Ukraine for the needless loss of life and destruction of infrastructure and society as a result of the Russian Federation's ongoing military invasion of Ukraine.

"The Russian Federation's war of aggression against Ukraine continues to run counter to FATF's principles of promoting security, safety and the integrity of the global financial system and the commitment to international cooperation and mutual respect upon which FATF Members have agreed to implement and support the FATF Standards. The suspension of the membership of the Russian Federation continues to stand."

Jurisdictions in the FATF blacklist on 24 February 2023 are unchanged, namely Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Iran, Myanmar.

THE FATF also published a "mutual evaluation" of Luxembourg which assessed the effectiveness of that country's measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, and their compliance with the FATF Recommendations. 

"The Plenary concluded that Luxembourg has reached a high level of technical compliance with the FATF's requirements and its AML/CFT regime is delivering good results. Luxembourg has achieved a good understanding of the money laundering and terrorist financing risks it faces, particularly important given its status as a regional and international financial centre.

"The country achieved robust domestic co-operation and co-ordination at both policy and operational levels, including in the use of financial intelligence and access to beneficial ownership information, and constructive cooperation with its international counterparts.  

"Luxembourg needs to focus on strengthening its measures in certain areas, including improving the detection, investigation and prosecution of more complex money laundering cases, in line with the country's risk profile. Luxembourg should also strengthen the risk-based supervision of its non-financial sector, further develop and disseminate its understanding of terrorist financing risks to both the public and private sectors and apply proportionate and dissuasive sanctions for non-compliance to its financial and non-financial sectors."

The FATF will publish the report by September after the FATF's quality and consistency review is completed.