Caribbean Financial Action Task Force releases report on Antigua and Barbuda

The Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) has published Antigua and Barbuda's third Follow-Up Report and Technical Compliance Re-rating in addressing the AML/CFT deficiencies that were identified in its 2018 Mutual Evaluation Report.

The recently published Follow-Up report shows that of the 40 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations, Antigua and Barbuda has 36 recommendations rated either Compliant or Largely Compliant. It has become one of the few nations in the region to achieve this level of compliance benchmark. It has become the third highest in the rating against other nations in the region after the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.

The exercise of re-rating requires that country's AML/CFT/CPF legal framework must meet the international standards of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The National Oversight Committee on Financial Action (NOCFA), which Prime Minister Gaston Browne chairs, has ensured that the nation is prepared for the new upcoming round of re-ratings of the remaining areas of concern that the CFATF has recommended for the improvement to bring the legal framework fully up to the international standards.

The preparations involved updating law and policy to meet the standard set out in the FATF Methodology and its recommendations. The results will be submitted to the CFATF by the end of April 2022 for assessment.

As per the Director of the Office of National Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy (ONDCP), Lt Col Edward Croft, while commenting on the CFATF report, said, "He is happy with the outcome which reflects the accomplishment of a tremendous amount of work and expresses appreciation to all the stakeholders for their contributions and support during the process.

"Notably, we have a lot of work to do, and we seek continued support from the Government, the Regulators, law enforcement agencies, the Supervisory authorities, Inland Revenue, the Central Bank, Office of the DPP in pursuit of the continuous improvement towards meeting the FATF international standards."