FATF Praises Cayman's Counter-Money Laundering Reforms

Caymannetnews

27 February 2001

This story is reproduced by kind permission of Caymannetnews at http://www.caymannetnews.com

President of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Jose Maria Roldan, has commended efforts by the Cayman Islands to enact counter money laundering legislation. In a letter sent to Financial Secretary the Hon. George McCarthy, the FATF president congratulated Cayman for responding to the deficiencies identified in the FATF's June 2000 report.

The full text of the letter appears below:

9th February, 2001

Hon. George McCarthy, O.B.E., J.P.
Financial Secretary
Department of Finance and Development
Government Administration Building, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

Dear Mr. McCarthy,

I am writing to congratulate you on the substantial progress that the Cayman Islands has made recently in reforming its counter-money laundering regime and in responding to the deficiencies identified in the June 2000 Report of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). This progress is acknowledge by the FATF Plenary in its 1 February 2001 public statement, in which the Cayman Islands is identified as one of the seven listed jurisdictions that has enacted most, if not all legislation needed to remedy the deficiencies in June 2000.

On the basis of this progress, FATF is inviting the Cayman Islands to submit an implementation plan by the end of February, or as soon as possible, to Mr. Daniel Glaser in his capacity as chairman of the Americas Review Group. This implementation plan will assist FATF in evaluating the actual implementation of your recently-enacted reforms. The assessment of implementation may also include a visit to the Cayman Islands by a delegation from the Americas Review Group. Mr. Glaser will soon be following up with you regarding the potential contents of your implementation plan, and on a further elaborated process by which jurisdictions will be delisted at the earliest possible time.

Additionally, you will soon be receiving from Mr. Glaser the revised progress report, which was discussed by the Americas Review Group last week. I note in advance that though the report recognises the significant progress made by the Cayman Islands with respect to a number of criteria, the Cayman Islands continues to be regarded as partially meeting criteria 4 (relating to the existence of anonymous accounts or accounts with obviously fictitious names). As this finding relates to one of the issues of particular concern for anti-money laundering purposes, it will not be considered when taking the decision on delisting. Nevertheless, the FATF urges the Cayman Islands to solve this problem as quickly as possible.

We look forward to continuing the constructive dialogue with your jurisdiction.

Yours sincerely,
Jose Maria Roldan

.

Recommended

Write a comment