FATF plenary meeting outcomes October 2023 - What to expect

The FATF Plenary took place on 25-27 October 2023 in Paris, France.

Delegates from the FATF’s Global Network (of over 200 jurisdictions) and observers from international organisations participated in these discussions.

Source picture: FATF

𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯:

👉 Updated Recommendations which will require countries to have policies and operational frameworks that prioritise asset recovery and establish non-conviction-based confiscation regimes in their legal systems.

👉 A report which includes recommendations aimed at strengthening the FATF Global Network’s collaboration with the Asset Recovery Networks (ARINs) to enable investigators and prosecutors to effectively ‘follow the money’ across borders and recover assets.

👉 An Updated “Best Practices Paper on Combating the Abuse of Non-Profit Organisations for Terrorist Financing”.

👉 Revisions to FATF Recommendation 8 to clarify measures that apply on non-profit organizations.

👉 A key report on “Crowdfunding for Terrorism Financing”

👉 A report on Illicit Financial Flows from Cyber-Enabled Fraud.

👉 A report on Misuse of Citizenship and Residency by Investment Programmes.

👉 Amendments to the Methodology for the next round of mutual evaluations for the effective implementation of the recent beneficial ownership and transparency requirements.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗔𝗧𝗙 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴’𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 (unknown dates):

✅ The FATF to scope work on countries’ criminalization of terrorism financing (Recommendation 5).

✅ To release for public consultation the updated FATF Risk-Based Guidance on Recommendation 25 on Beneficial Ownership and Transparency of Legal Arrangements.

✅ A comprehensive set of procedures that all relevant assessment bodies, including all FATF-Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs), will use to assess countries’ compliance with the FATF Standards in the next round of mutual evaluations.

𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀/𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:

📌 The FATF welcomed Indonesia as its 40th member.

📌 Discussed the joint FATF-GAFILAT assessment of Brazil.

📌 The suspension of the membership of the Russian Federation continues to stand.

📌 Addition of Bulgaria to the grey list

📌 Removal of Albania, Cayman Islands, Jordan, and Panama from the grey list

📌 No changes in the black list.