About FATF
Formation
The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) was established by a G-7 Summit held in Paris in 1989, with the cooperation of the European Commission and eight other countries.
Membership of the FATF currently consists of 31 countries and two organisations.
To qualify for membership, a country must:
(a) be strategically important;
(b) be a full and active member of a relevant FATF-style Regional Body;
(c) provide a formal written commitment to implement the FATF recommendations; and
(d) effectively criminalise money laundering and terrorist financing; make it mandatory for financial institutions to identify their customers, to keep customer records and to report suspicious transactions; and establish an effective FIU.
The work of the FATF focuses on three principal areas:
(1) setting standards for national anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing programmes
(2) evaluating the degree to which countries have implemented measures that meet those standards
(3) identifying and studying money laundering and terrorist financing methods and trends
Objectives
The Task Force's initial aim was to examine money laundering techniques and trends, the current methods of countering these activities, and recommending steps to be taken to enhance current practices. In April 1990, the FATF issued a report containing a set of Forty Recommendations, which constitutes a proposed plan of action to combat money laundering. These have since been revised in 1996 and in 2003.
The FATF continues to examine methods used to launder criminal proceeds and has conducted two evaluations of each of the member countries to assess the status of implementation.
In 2001, the fight against terrorist financing was added to the mission of the FATF and consequently led to the development of nine standards in this regard.
The current mandate (pdf) was created in 1998 and focuses on:
- Spreading the anti-money laundering message to all continents and regions of the globe
- Monitoring the implementation of the Forty Recommendations in FATF members
- Reviewing money laundering trends and countermeasures
Organizational Structure
The FATF includes a President and a Secretariat. The Presidency is a one year position, commencing in June and held by "a high level government official" from one of the member countries.
The Secretariat supports the Task Force and the President and is resident at the OECD Headquarters in France.
FATF Plenary meetings are held annually. The 2005 Plenary (pdf) was held October 12-14 and was attended by 400 delegates from 32 jurisdictions and 16 international organizations.
External Relations
There are various FATF-style organizations, set up in regional locations, whose aim is to promote and enforce the FATF recommendations within their respective regions. These currently consist of:
- Asia / Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG)
- Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF)
- Council of Europe Select Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures (MONEYVAL) (formerly PC-R-EV)
- Eurasian Group (EAG)
- Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG )
- Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering in South America (GAFISUD )
- Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF)
Additionally, there are a number of international organizations that maintain links with the FATF. These are:
- African Development Bank
- Asia Development Bank
- The Commonwealth Secretariat
- Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units
- European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) [English/French/German/Russian]
- European Central Bank (ECB)
- Europol
- Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
- Intergovernmental Action Group against Money-Laundering in Africa (GIABA) International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS)
- International Monetary Fund (IMF)
- International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)
- Interpol
- Organization of American States / Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism (OAS/CICTE)
- Organization of American States/ Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (OAS/CICAD)
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
- Offshore Group of Banking Supervisors (OGBS)
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
- World Bank World Customs Organisation (WCO)
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