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Important notice from Company Registry on TCSPs - 4 March 2020
04 Mar 2020
The Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”), the global standard-setting body for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (“AML/CFT”), published the following documents on 21 February 2020:
(1) FATF Statement on High-Risk Jurisdictions subject to a Call for Action (“the Statement”)
(i) Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (“DPRK”)
- The FATF remains concerned by the DPRK’s failure to address the significant deficiencies in its AML/CFT regime and the serious threats they pose to the integrity of the international financial system. Further, the FATF has serious concerns with the threat posed by the DPRK’s illicit activities related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and its financing.
- The FATF reaffirms its 25 February 2011 call on its members and urges all jurisdictions, which we hereby do, to advise you to give special attention to business relationships and transactions with the DPRK, including DPRK companies, Financial Institutions (FIs) and those acting on their behalves. Please refer to the Statement for more details.
(ii) Iran
- Given Iran’s failure to enact the Palermo and Terrorist Financing Conventions in line with the FATF Standards, the FATF fully lifts the suspension of counter-measures against Iran and call on its members and urges all jurisdictions to apply effective counter-measures, which we hereby do, and advise you to apply enhanced due diligence measures, including obtaining information on the reasons for intended transactions, business relationships and transactions with natural and legal persons from Iran; conducting enhanced monitoring of business relationships, by increasing the number and timing of controls applied, and selecting patterns of transactions that need further examination. Please refer to theStatement for more details.
(2) Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring
- As part of its ongoing review of compliance with the AML/CFT standards, FATF identified 18 jurisdictions (Albania, The Bahamas, Barbados, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, Iceland, Jamaica, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zimbabwe) with strategic AML/CFT deficiencies.
- The FATF encourages members to consider the information presented in the 21 February 2020 issue of “Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring” which sets out the high-level political commitment provided by each of the jurisdictions in question to address the identified deficiencies, including to (i) ensure the timely access to adequate, accurate and current basic and beneficial ownership information; (ii) ensure the implementation without delay of targeted financial sanctions measures related to terrorist financing and proliferation financing; (iii) establish procedures to identify and freeze terrorist assets; and (iv) improve customer due diligence and suspicious transaction reporting requirements, etc.