News Release: Hamilton, Bermuda – During a press conference on Friday (January 17), Finance Minister Curtis Dickinson, announced that an independent team of experts has confirmed that Bermuda is one of the global leaders in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation.
Minister Dickinson said: “An international standards-setting body has confirmed that Bermuda is one of the global leaders in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation. This is an excellent result and a major accomplishment for Bermuda.”
Of the more than 75 mutual evaluation reports published to date by the FATF, Bermuda’s compliance with the Technical compliance requirements is the highest of any jurisdiction, with 39 of the 40 Recommendations rated as Compliant or Largely Compliant. Further, in relation to the overall level of effectiveness, Bermuda ranks in the top six of all Mutual Evaluation Reports published to date. In addition, Bermuda is only the second jurisdiction thus far to be assessed as having a high level of effectiveness in relation to its risk assessment and domestic coordination mechanisms.
Bermuda’s assessment was conducted by a team of experts from the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force and, throughout the process, was subject to review and oversight by persons and entities within the FATF global network. The review commenced in March 2018 with Bermuda’s first submission in relation to our Technical Compliance.
“In the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation, the mutual evaluation report confirms that Bermuda is one of the global leaders. It confirms that we understand our risks, we respond appropriately and we manage our risk accordingly,” said the Minister.
“The results of this report confirm that we know what we are doing and we do it well.”
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 by the Ministers of its Member jurisdictions. The objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system. The FATF is therefore a “policy-making body” which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas.
The FATF has developed a series of Recommendations that are recognised as the international standard for combating of money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. They form the basis for a co-ordinated response to these threats to the integrity of the financial system and help ensure a level playing field. First issued in 1990, the FATF Recommendations were revised in 1996, 2001, 2003 and most recently in 2012 to ensure that they remain up to date and relevant, and they are intended to be of universal application.
The Caribbean Financial Action Task Force or CFATF is one of several regional bodies associated with the FATF.
The full report can be found here: www.cfatf-gafic.org
