A delegation from the Cayman Islands led by the Hon. Alden McLaughlin, Minister for International Financial Services Policy, participated in the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) XXIVth Plenary and XIIth Ministerial Council held in Guatemala City, Guatemala, 25-27 October. Other members of the delegation included Deborah Drummond, deputy financial secretary (financial services), Lindsay Cacho, director, Financial Reporting Authority (FRA), Jacqueline Ziemniak-Jefferson, assistant financial secretary (financial services) and Gail Johnson, senior crown counsel.
During the course of the 3-day plenary and ministerial, key agenda items included the review of comprehensive mutual evaluation reports on the AML/CFT regimes of five CFATF members (Bahamas, Belize, Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Trinidad & Tobago); review and approval of the budget and annual report; the assumption of the CFATF Chair by Guatemala for 06/07; and approval of amendments to the CFATF MOU. The FATF President, Mr Frank Swedlove of Canada, also delivered an address and presentations were received from a number of CFATF observers, including the FATF Secretariat, the IMF and the World Bank.
The ministerial council elected three members' representatives to the CFATF steering group (which functions as the executive committee) for 06/07, being the Cayman Islands, Barbados and Haiti. The steering group is chaired by the CFATF 06/07 chair (Guatemala) and includes the immediate past-chair (Jamaica) and a representative from the cooperating and supporting nations (COSUNs), Spain.
On the final day of the meeting, the Cayman Islands FRA (CAYFIN) also signed an MOU with its Guatemalan counterpart.
"The CFATF is an important forum and it was particularly valuable to participate in the detailed review of the five mutual evaluation reports considered, as Cayman undergoes its third-round CFATF mutual evaluation in June 2007," said Minister McLaughlin. "We are also pleased to be involved in the work of the steering group for the upcoming year."
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. 'AML/CFT' means anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism
2. The CFATF (Caribbean Financial Action Task Force) is an organisation of 30 states and territories of the Caribbean basin which have agreed to implement common counter-measures against money laundering and the financing of terrorism including adoption and implementation of the key UN Conventions (the Vienna Convention, the Palermo Convention and the Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism), the FATF Forty plus Nine Recommendations and the CFATF Nineteen Recommendations. The CFATF was formed as the result of two key ministerial meetings convened in Aruba and Jamaica in the early 1990s and is the first FATF (Financial Action Task Force)-style regional body (FSRB) to be established. The Cayman Islands has been a CFATF member since inception. The CFATF Secretariat is hosted by the Government of Trinidad & Tobago; its website is www.cfatf.org.
In addition to the 30 members, the following are COUSN S and Observers:
COSUN's: Canada, France, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States,
Observers: Asia / Pacific Group Secretariat; Caribbean Customs and Law Enforcement Council (CCLEC); Caribbean Development Bank (CDB); CARICOM; Central American bank for Economic Integration (Banco Centro Americano de Integraci?n Econ?mica); Commonwealth Secretariat; ECDCO; ECCB; Egmont Group; European Commission; FATF; GAFISUD; UN Global Programme on Money Laundering (GPML); IMF; Inter-American Development Bank (IADB); Interpol; Offshore Group of Banking Supervisors (OGBS); Organization of American States / Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (OAS/CICAD); United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNDCP); World Bank; World Customs Organisation (WCO)
During the course of the 3-day plenary and ministerial, key agenda items included the review of comprehensive mutual evaluation reports on the AML/CFT regimes of five CFATF members (Bahamas, Belize, Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Trinidad & Tobago); review and approval of the budget and annual report; the assumption of the CFATF Chair by Guatemala for 06/07; and approval of amendments to the CFATF MOU. The FATF President, Mr Frank Swedlove of Canada, also delivered an address and presentations were received from a number of CFATF observers, including the FATF Secretariat, the IMF and the World Bank.
The ministerial council elected three members' representatives to the CFATF steering group (which functions as the executive committee) for 06/07, being the Cayman Islands, Barbados and Haiti. The steering group is chaired by the CFATF 06/07 chair (Guatemala) and includes the immediate past-chair (Jamaica) and a representative from the cooperating and supporting nations (COSUNs), Spain.
On the final day of the meeting, the Cayman Islands FRA (CAYFIN) also signed an MOU with its Guatemalan counterpart.
"The CFATF is an important forum and it was particularly valuable to participate in the detailed review of the five mutual evaluation reports considered, as Cayman undergoes its third-round CFATF mutual evaluation in June 2007," said Minister McLaughlin. "We are also pleased to be involved in the work of the steering group for the upcoming year."
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. 'AML/CFT' means anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism
2. The CFATF (Caribbean Financial Action Task Force) is an organisation of 30 states and territories of the Caribbean basin which have agreed to implement common counter-measures against money laundering and the financing of terrorism including adoption and implementation of the key UN Conventions (the Vienna Convention, the Palermo Convention and the Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism), the FATF Forty plus Nine Recommendations and the CFATF Nineteen Recommendations. The CFATF was formed as the result of two key ministerial meetings convened in Aruba and Jamaica in the early 1990s and is the first FATF (Financial Action Task Force)-style regional body (FSRB) to be established. The Cayman Islands has been a CFATF member since inception. The CFATF Secretariat is hosted by the Government of Trinidad & Tobago; its website is www.cfatf.org.
In addition to the 30 members, the following are COUSN S and Observers:
COSUN's: Canada, France, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States,
Observers: Asia / Pacific Group Secretariat; Caribbean Customs and Law Enforcement Council (CCLEC); Caribbean Development Bank (CDB); CARICOM; Central American bank for Economic Integration (Banco Centro Americano de Integraci?n Econ?mica); Commonwealth Secretariat; ECDCO; ECCB; Egmont Group; European Commission; FATF; GAFISUD; UN Global Programme on Money Laundering (GPML); IMF; Inter-American Development Bank (IADB); Interpol; Offshore Group of Banking Supervisors (OGBS); Organization of American States / Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (OAS/CICAD); United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNDCP); World Bank; World Customs Organisation (WCO)