Financial Crime World

Here is the rewritten article in Markdown format:

Saint Kitts and Nevis: AML and CFT Regulations Under Scrutiny

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has released its latest assessment report on Saint Kitts and Nevis, highlighting areas of compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) regulations.

Compliance and Deficiencies

According to the report, Saint Kitts and Nevis achieved a rating of “Largely Compliant” (LC) in several key areas, including:

  • Assessing risk and applying a risk-based approach (R.1)
  • National cooperation and coordination (R.2)
  • Money laundering offence (R.3)
  • Targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism and terrorist financing (R.6)

However, the report also identified some areas where Saint Kitts and Nevis fell short of FATF standards:

Partial Compliance

  • Confiscation and provisional measures (R.4)
  • Terrorist financing offence (R.5)
  • Targeted financial sanctions related to proliferation (R.7)
  • Customer due diligence (R.10)
  • Record keeping (R.11)
  • Politically exposed persons (R.12)
  • Correspondent banking (R.13)
  • Money or value transfer services (R.14)
  • New technologies (R.15)
  • Wire transfers (R.16)
  • Reliance on third parties (R.17)
  • Internal controls and foreign branches and subsidiaries (R.18)
  • Higher-risk countries (R.19)
  • Reporting of suspicious transactions (R.20)
  • DNFBPs: Customer due diligence (R.22)
  • DNFBPs: Other measures (R.23)
  • Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons (R.24)
  • Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal arrangements (R.25)
  • Regulation and supervision of financial institutions (R.26)
  • Powers of supervisors (R.27)
  • Regulation and supervision of DNFBPs (R.28)
  • Financial intelligence units (R.29)
  • Responsibilities of law enforcement and investigative authorities (R.30)
  • Powers of law enforcement and investigative authorities (R.31)
  • Cash couriers (R.32)
  • Statistics (R.33)
  • Guidance and feedback (R.34)
  • Sanctions (R.35)
  • International instruments (R.36)
  • Mutual legal assistance (R.37)
  • Mutual legal assistance: freezing and confiscation (R.38)
  • Extradition (R.39)
  • Other forms of international cooperation (R.40)

Non-Compliance

  • Non-profit organisations (R.8)
  • Financial institution secrecy laws (R.9)
  • Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons (R.24)
  • Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal arrangements (R.25)
  • Regulation and supervision of DNFBPs (R.28)
  • Other forms of international cooperation (R.40)

Next Steps

The FATF report highlights the need for Saint Kitts and Nevis to address these deficiencies in order to maintain its commitment to combating money laundering and terrorist financing. The country is expected to take steps to improve its AML/CFT regime, including:

  • Enhancing its legal framework
  • Increasing transparency and accountability
  • Strengthening its enforcement mechanisms

Saint Kitts and Nevis has until 2024 to implement the necessary reforms and demonstrate significant progress towards compliance with FATF standards. If the country fails to meet these requirements, it may face further scrutiny and potentially even being added to the FATF’s list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring.