The Role of FATF Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs) in Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism

Contents

FATF Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs)

1. Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG)
2. Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF)
3. Council of Europe Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL)
4. Financial Action Task Force of Latin America (GAFILAT)
5. Intergovernmental Action Group against Money- Laundering in West Africa (GIABA)
6. The Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF)
7. Eurasian Group (EAG)
8. Eastern and Southern African Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG)
9. Task Force on Money Laundering in Central Africa (GABAC)

FATF Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs)

FATF Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs) are viewed as ‘local chapters’ that follow the FATF 40+9 recommendation, with mentions of regional socio-economic issues in their guidelines. The FSRBs work more at a regional level to raise awareness and offer technical aid in spreading FATF guidelines via peer pressure and mutual evaluations. Though FATF is the only AML-CFT standard-setting body, it depends heavily on FSRBs for inputs that affect FATF guideline amendments.

Following are the major identical tasks performed by all the FATF Style Regional Bodies. –

1.   Mutual evaluation and peer review of the member nations to assess their implementation of 40 FATF Recommendations.
2.   Study of Typologies, i.e., to deeply examine the region-specific money laundering, terrorism activities, and proliferation. Thus, to generate more precise reports on the regional situations to be shared with the FATF to determine a better problem-solving approach.
3. To disseminate AML-CFT best practices amongst the legal, governmental, regulatory, private, and public enterprises.
4.   Offer technical assistance to the member nations with AML-CFT countermeasure efforts and application of FATF standards.
5. Help regional countries migrate to an advanced financial era of digital assets, central digital currencies, cryptocurrencies, etc.

The FSRB Members are as follows –

1. Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG)
2. Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF)
3. Council of Europe Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL)
4. Financial Action Task Force of Latin America (GAFILAT)
5. Intergovernmental Action Group against Money- Laundering in West Africa (GIABA)
6. The Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF)
7. Eurasian Group (EAG)
8. Eastern and Southern African Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG)
9. Task Force on Money Laundering in Central Africa (GABAC)

Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG)

The autonomous provincial AML body was founded at the Fourth Asia/Pacific Money Laundering Symposium in Bangkok in February 1997. There are set Terms of Reference that the member nations have to follow; the Terms are distinguished by their constitutional framework and cultural values. At present, there are 41 APG members –

1. Afghanistan	21. Mongolia
2. Australia	22. Myanmar
3. Bangladesh	23. Nauru
4. Kingdom of Bhutan	24. Nepal
5. Brunei Darussalam	25. New Zealand
6. Cambodia	26. Niue
7. Canada	27. Pakistan
8. People’s Republic of China	28. Palau
9. Cook Islands	29. Papua New Guinea
10. Fiji	30. Philippines
11. Hong Kong, China	31. Samoa
12. India	32. Singapore
13. Indonesia	33. Solomon Islands
14. Japan	34. Sri Lanka
15. Korea, Republic of Korea (South Korea)	35. Chinese Taipei
16. Lao People’s Democratic Republic	37. Timor-Leste
17. Macao, China	38. Tonga
18. Malaysia	39. United States of America
19. Maldives	40. Vanuatu
20. Republic of Marshall Islands	41. Vietnam

Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF)

The Anti-Money Laundering measures in the Caribbean Basin mostly control the circulation of illicit drug proceeds from the drug-producing Andean region to the Caribbean islands. Following a series of international convenes – in Aruba 1990 and Jamaica 1992 (Kingston Ministerial Declaration) – 27 of the Caribbean and U.S. states joined hands to form CFATF and countermeasure ML-TF and mass proliferation of weapons in and across the Caribbean region.

As the international drug lords have hugely misused the islands’ financial institutions for structuring and integrating drug money, CFATF put nineteen AML-CFT recommendations to include seizure, forfeiture, investigation, conviction, and extradition rights to this intergovernmental body. Currently, the CFATF members include –

1. Anguilla	13. Grenada
2. Antigua & Barbuda	14. Guyana
3. Aruba	15. Haiti
4. Bahamas	16. Jamaica
5. Barbados	17. Montserrat
6. Belize	18. Saint Kitts and Nevis
7. Bermuda	19. Sint Maarten
8. British Virgin Islands	20. Suriname
9. Cayman Islands	21. Trinidad & Tobago
10. Curaçao	22. Turks and Caicos Islands
11. Dominica	23. Venezuela
12. Saint Lucia Saint Vincent & the Grenadines

Co-operating and Supporting Nations (COSUNs)

1. Canada
2. France
3. Mexico
4. Netherlands
5. Spain
6. United Kingdom
7. United States

Council of Europe Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL)

Established in Sept 1997 and amended multiple times afterward, the Council of Europe brought MONEYVAL for self and mutual evaluation of AML measures taken by the FATF and Non-FATF members across Europe. Countries and jurisdictions subject to MONEYVAL evaluation –

Members:

1. Albania	15. Liechtenstein
2. Andorra	16. Lithuania
3. Armenia	17. Malta
4. Azerbaijan	18. Republic of Moldova
5. Bosnia and Herzegovina	19. Monaco
6. Bulgaria	20. Montenegro
7. Croatia	21. Poland
8.  Cyprus	22. Romania
9.  Estonia	23. San Marino
10. Georgia	24. Serbia
11. Hungary	25. Czech Republic
12. Latvia	26. Slovak Republic
13. Slovenia	27. Slovenia
14. Slovenia

Non-members:

1. Israel
2. The Holy See
3. The UK Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man
4. The British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar

Financial Action Task Force of Latin America (GAFILAT)

It was established as a geopolitical body in December 2000 in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, for training and mutual assessment of its member nations.

GAFILAT Members:

1. Argentina	10. Guatemala
2. Bolivia	11. Honduras
3. Brazil	12. Mexico
4. Chile	13. Nicaragua
5. Colombia	14. Panama
6. Costa Rica	15. Paraguay
7. Cuba	16. Peru
8. Dominican Republic	17. Uruguay
9. Ecuador

Observer Jurisdictions:

1. Canada
2. France
3. Germany
4. Portugal
5. Spain
6. United States

Intergovernmental Action Group against Money-Laundering in West Africa(GIABA)

Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) in December 1999 founded the GIABA to protect the financial systems and overall economy of the African states.

1. Republic of Benin	10. Republic of Liberia
2. Burkina Faso	11. Republic of Mali
3. Republic of Cape Verde	12. Republic of Niger
4. Union of Comoros	13. Federal Republic of Nigeria
5. Republic of Côte d’Ivoire	14. São Tomé and Príncipe
6. Republic of The Gambia	15. Republic of Senegal
7. Republic of Ghana	16. Republic of Sierra Leone
8. Guine-Bissau	17. Togolese Republic
9. Republic of Guinea

The Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF)

Established in Manama, Bahrain, in the November of 2004, the MENAFATF is an independent, voluntary organization and an FATF-style regional body for the Middle East and North Africa. MENAFATF cooperates with international authorities like FATF and UNSC to fight ML-TF nuisances while preserving its regional constitutional framework and cultural values at the same time. MENAFATF members are —

1. Jordan	12. Somalia
2. United Arab Emirates	13. Iraq
3. Bahrain	14. Oman
4. Tunisia	15. Palestine
5. Algeria	16. Qatar
6. Djibouti	17. Kuwait
7. Saudi Arabia	18. Lebanon
8. Sudan	19. Libya
9. Syria	20. Morocco
10. Yemen	21. Mauritania
11. Egypt

Eurasian Group (EAG)

Established in Moscow in October 2004, the EAG goals are identical to other FRSBs, i.e., international cooperation, technical implementation of the FATF recommendations, mutual evaluation, and combating regional specific crimes by analyzing ML-TF typologies. The EAG members are –

1. Belarus	6. Russia
2. China	7. Tajikistan
3. India	8. Turkmenistan
4. Kazakhstan	9. Uzbekistan
5. Kyrgyzstan

Eastern and Southern African Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG)

Launched in 1999 in Tanzania, the ESAAMLG consists of 18 eastern and south African nations coming together to combat AML-CFT in the region via effective regulatory and operational measures. Along with the conventional 40 FATF Recommendations, the high-level body also addresses specific regional issues, for instance, combating wildlife poaching and illicit trade of wildlife products. The member nations are –

1. Angola	10. Namibia
2. Botswana	11. Rwanda
3. Comoros	12. South Africa
4. Ethiopia	13. Swaziland
5. Kenya	14. Seychelles
6. Lesotho	15. Tanzania
7. Malawi	16. Uganda
8. Mauritius	17. Zambia
9. Mozambique	18. Zimbabwe

Task Force on Money Laundering in Central Africa (GABAC)

It was formed under the auspices of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa. Founded in 2000, it received its FSRB status in October 2015; the group actively monitors its members’ compliance with FATF 40 Recommendations. GABAC member nations are –

1. Cameroon.
2. Central African Republic.
3. Chad.
4. Republic of the Congo.
5. Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
6. Equatorial Guinea
7. Gabon