On Thursday 17 October, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) announced that it had made major changes to the criteria for including countries on the list of jurisdictions with deficient systems for fighting money laundering and terrorist financing. The aim of this change is to ease the pressure on least developed countries and focus on those countries that pose greater risks to the international financial system.
The FATF, in collaboration with the relevant FATF-style regional body, if applicable, works with these countries in a peer-led process to address the deficiencies that allow illegal financial flows. It is the least developed countries that feel the impact of illegal financial flows most strongly, as they hamper development. The proceeds of crimes such as tax evasion, corruption and organised crime divert billions of dollars every year from essential public goods such as education and health. It is crucial to deprive criminals of their ill-gotten gains in order to help these countries build solid economies and societies.
The changes made by the FATF will ensure that the listing process better targets those countries posing the greatest risk to the international financial system and helps to provide more appropriate support to low-capacity countries. These changes will apply to the next assessment cycle. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)