The Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) in conjunction with the Barbados Anti- Money Laundering Authority, (AMLA) the Central Bank of Barbados, (CBB), the Barbados International Business Association (BIBA) and the Barbados Association of Compliance Professionals (BACP) takes its Public Education and Awareness Raising Road Show to the Frank Collymore Hall, Central Bank of Barbados, Tom Adams Financial Centre on Thursday 31st January and Friday 1st February 2012 with the hosting of the 8th Anti Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Compliance Conference.
Since December 2000, the CFATF, in keeping with its mandate as approved by Caribbean Basin Regional Ministers, to coordinate and deliver Technical Assistance and Training in each of its twenty nine Member countries, continues to have considerable success in arranging (AML/CFT) Compliance Conferences for both the public and private sectors.
The upcoming Conference will be the CFATF’s eighth AML/CFT Compliance Conference although it will be the second Public Education and Awareness Raising event to be hosted by the CFATF in Barbados. The Conference is supported by key public sector institutions that are pivotal to the establishment and continued development of an effective national AML/CFT regime that sustains the highest levels of compliance with the FATF Recommendations and is undertaken in close collaboration with and enjoys the fullest involvement of the private sector.
The government departments supporting the Conference include the Office of the Attorney General and Prime Contact of Barbados to the CFATF and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). These authorities along with the Central Bank of Barbados provide considerable support to the continued growth, development and successes of the AML/CFT agenda across the Caribbean Basin Region through the dedication, expertise and experiences of their public servants within the CFATF Steering Group, Plenary and Working Groups Meetings, as well as in the Heads of FIUs Forum and the Mutual Evaluation Programme.
On Thursday 15th November 2012, Mr. Cherno Jallow, QC, Director, Policy, Research and Statistics, Financial Services Commission, Virgin Islands, assumed the CFATF Chairmanship for the 2012-2013 period on behalf of his country at the 36th Plenary Meeting of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force which held its 36th Plenary Meeting at the Multipurpose Complex in Tortola in Nature’s Little Secret, the warm and beautiful Virgin Islands during November 12-15 2012.
FATF Bjorn Aamo at the Opening Ceremony of CFATF Plenary Meeting XXXVI in Road Town, Tortola, Virgin Islands, welcomed the “impressive progress made to date” and “congratulated the CFATF with this result” which as he put it “benefits all members of the global network of the FATF and FSRBs but which will benefit CFATF Members the most”.
Chairman Manuel Gonzalez described his year as Chair of the CFATF as “an exciting, challenging and immensely valuable experience” during which time he “made new friends and learnt a lot.”
In passing the baton of leadership from his native Venezuela to the Virgin Islands AT Plenary Meeting XXXVI, Chairman Manuel Gonzalez reflected on the advances made by the CFATF during his stewardship at the helm and expressed his appreciation that “to this I owe in large part to the friendship, guidance and good counsel of Chairman Jallow in whose very capable and experienced hands I leave the CFATF.”
In welcoming delegations from the twenty nine members of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force to the Multipurpose Sports Complex in Road Town, Tortola, Virgin Islands, Nature’s Little Secrets, Dr. The Honourable D. Orlando Smith, OBE, Premier of the Virgin Islands noted that