Once a country has not put in place remedial measures to address shortcomings identified in its anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime during the mutual evaluation or is taking too long to do so, the country can be subject to a series of escalating actions leading to a Public Statement on the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force’s (CFATF’s) website. The Public Statement will list the shortcomings in the country’s AML/CFT regime and advise member countries of the CFATF to take appropriate measures to safeguard against the shortcomings of the identified country.
This Public Statement is copied by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on its website so all its members (i.e. G20 etc.,) are aware of the concerns and can implement any action they deem appropriate. Private financial institutions have access to both sites with the Public Statements and can also take their own measures in dealing with business coming from countries on a Public Statement.
Once a country has put in place the measures necessary to address the identified shortcomings in the Public Statement either by enacting laws or establishing or strengthening competent authorities, the country can be removed from the Public Statement. To do this, the country’s measures are assessed by the CFATF and a report presented at one of its semi-annual meetings either in May or November. Once the report has indicated that the measures implemented by the country are adequate and that the shortcomings have been dealt with satisfactorily, the country will be removed from the Public Statement. A statement to this effect will be posted on the CFATF website and the assessment report will also be available.