FATF Grey List Countries 2022

FATF grey list countries 2022

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an intergovernmental body that develops standards and recommendations to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

It was formed in 1989 Paris with the mission to promote compliance with international standards of transparency, prevention, detection and prosecution of financial crimes.

It was formed in 1989 paris by the banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions who wanted to fight money laundering and terrorism. The organization consists of 39 member countries that are committed to fighting money laundering and terrorism.

The FATF 39 member countries including China, Russia, Iraq etc which are active members of this organization.

Members include 39 countries (with more joining each year), each of which appoints a representative to the FATF's executive committee.

The United States has been a member since 1991, but it withdrew from the group in 2001 when FATF wanted its banks to implement stricter measures against terrorist financing.

FATF Grey List Countries 2022

Since June 2022, the FATF has evaluated the development of the following nations: Albania, Barbados, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Haiti, Jamaica, Jordan, Mali, Morocco, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Philippines, Senegal, South Sudan, Turkey, UAE, and Uganda.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, and Tanzania are now also included in the review list by the FATF.

Recently Nicaragua And Pakistan has come out of the grey list.

FATF has total 39 member countries

These are the countries:

• Group 1: members with strong legislative and institutional frameworks.

• Group 2: members with moderate legislative and institutional frameworks.

• Group 3: members with weak legislative and institutional frameworks.

Group 1 members: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Group 2 members: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia. 

Group 3 members: Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and Croatia.

It Holds 2 Plenary Sessions Per Year

FATF holds two plenary sessions per year. Each country appoints a representative for the purpose of FATF (Financial Action Task Force) and has to submit a report on its anti-money laundering and terrorist financing efforts.

The first plenary session takes place in March, while the second takes place in November.

The FATF maintains a greylist which names all countries with insufficient legislation against money laundering and terror financing. 

Countries on the greylist are required to take concrete actions by a specific date in order to be removed from the list.

The FATF also maintains a blacklist which names countries with insufficient legislation against money laundering and terror financing. Countries on the blacklist are subject to sanctions, usually trade restrictions.

The list is updated annually, usually in February or March.

The FATF maintains a grey list of countries to be monitored closely because they do not have adequate laws to prevent their financial sectors from being used for terrorism financing or other unlawful activities such as money laundering.

Conclusion

As we’ve seen, the FATF gray list is more than an arbitrary collection of countries. It’s a framework to help businesses stay out of trouble with regulators and their clients.

The FATF is not shy about enforcing its standards, either. There are plenty of examples of individual countries being penalized by the group for failing to implement its policies effectively or just not keeping up with the rest of the world in terms of protecting financial privacy from criminals and hackers.

And if you’re thinking about moving your business overseas or opening an office in another country that isn’t on this list? Don’t do it! As long as you follow all laws and avoid any activities that could be considered money laundering or terrorism financing risk, then you should be fine as long as everything stays within legal boundaries (which can often be very blurry indeed).