Jamaica at Risk of Being Backlisted by FATF If June 2023 Deadline Is Not Met

• Jamaica is listed as one of the countries currently on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) increased monitoring/ “grey list”. According to the FATF, when it places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring, it means the country has committed to swiftly resolving the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes.
• Jamaica has a June 2023 deadline to comply with the FATF’s recommendations or the institution will take action against the country, which could include urging all jurisdictions to apply enhanced due diligence to business relations and transactions with Jamaica.
• According to the Minister of Finance, Dr. Nigel Clarke, as at March 30, the country was “compliant or largely compliant in 33 of 40 recommendations.” A part of this compliance comes from the recent ruling by the Privy Council relating to attorney-client confidentiality. The Privy Council ruled that the requirement for attorneys to report to the authorities whether their clients’ funds were obtained by illicit means does not breach the constitutional rights of those attorneys. As such, this is a critical component in addressing the probability of financial crimes being committed.
• Now the country is at the tail end of the timeframe of its commitments, and one of the areas that were still outstanding was to ensure that the beneficial ownership regime in Jamaica is consistent with international standards.
• To this end, the Minister said amendments are being made to the Companies Act to revolutionise and strengthen Jamaica’s beneficial ownership regime. Dr. Clarke explained that the passage of these amendments will address three of the outstanding items agreed on in Jamaica’s action plan with the FATF for the anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework. The Minister further advised that amendments will also be made to the Trusts and Cooperative Services Act.

(Source: FATF & JIS)