FATF: Revision of list of countries under increased monitoring

When the FATF places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring, it means the country has committed to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to extra checks. In line with the flexible procedures adopted in February 2021 to allow FATF to continue its monitoring program in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FATF has updated its statements for countries under review.

Jurisdiction no longer under Increased Monitoring – Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has accomplished significant progress in addressing the strategic AML/CFT deficiencies previously identified by the FATF and included in its action plan. Zimbabwe will no longer be subject to the FATF’s increased monitoring process. This comes after the country received an on-site visit. Zimbabwe will work with FATF regional partner ESAAMLG, of which it is a member, to continue strengthening its AML/CFT regime.

Jurisdiction placed under Increased Monitoring – United Arab Emirates

In February 2022, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and MENAFATF to strengthen the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime. Since the adoption of its MER in February 2020, the UAE has made significant progress across its MER’s recommended actions to improve its system, including by finalizing a TF Risk Assessment, creating an AML/CFT coordination committee, establishing an effective system to implement targeted financial sanctions without delay, and significantly improving its ability to confiscate criminal proceeds and engage in international cooperation. Additionally, the UAE addressed or largely addressed more than half of the key recommended actions from the MER.

The UAE will work to implement its FATF action plan by:

• demonstrating through case studies and statistics a sustained increase in outbound MLA requests to help facilitate investigation of TF, ML, and high-risk predicates;
  identifying and maintaining a shared understanding of the ML/TF risks between the different DNFBP sectors and institutions;
• showing an increase in the number and quality of STRs filed by FIs and DNFBPs (Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions);
  achieving a more granular understanding of the risk of abuse of legal persons and, where applicable, legal arrangements, for ML/TF;
• providing additional resources to the FIU to strengthen its analysis function and enhance the use of financial intelligence to pursue high-risk ML threats, such as proceeds of foreign predicate offenses, trade-based ML, and third-party laundering;
• demonstrating a sustained increase in effective investigations and prosecutions of different types of ML cases consistent with UAE’s risk profile; and
• proactively identifying and combating sanctions evasion, including by using detailed TFS guidance in sustained awareness-raising with the private sector and demonstrating a better understanding of sanctions evasion among the private sector.
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How does it impact you?

As soon as a jurisdiction is added to the list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring by the FATF, its risk rating will be automatically set to High in our country risks list. As a result of the above mentioned changes, UAE risk level is now High.  Zimbabwe risk level remains High, even though the country was removed from the list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring because of its very low CPI rating and its inclusion in the list of countries under embargo of the EU.

Our Country risk list is used in:

• AMLspotter,
• AMLspotter Online,
• WEB BNC,
• KYC & AML cloud suite
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 KYC Addon
• API.