Executive Director of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), Calvin Wilson has said that de-risking or the loss of correspondent banking relations is looming largely across the Caribbean region because of what is being perceived by international financial institutions as “high-risk jurisdictions operating in a high-risk region.”
Wilson is disagreeing with this perception on the basis that many of the countries have taken stringent steps to correct the deficiencies in their Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime, during their mutual evaluations. He disclosed that many of the formerly high-risk countries are now compliant or “largely compliant” with the standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
However, the CFATF Executive highlighted that this progress is not being translated to regulators around the world.
“We think that if that were to be taken into account, then some of the decisions that have been made with regard to de-listing would not have been taken,” he noted.
More outreaches, Wilson said, may be necessary to set the record straight. At a meeting organised by theCaribbean Community (CARICOM) held in Antigua and Barbuda towards the end of October, 2017, the Region embraced the guidelines set by the FATF, as it relates to correspondent banking.
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