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Barbados Makes Progress in Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, Says CFATF

Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago - In a significant development, Barbados has made substantial progress in strengthening its framework to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, according to the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).

Progress Assessment

The CFATF’s decision comes after Barbados submitted a report detailing its progress in addressing technical compliance deficiencies identified in its 2018 mutual evaluation report. The report assessed the effectiveness of Barbados’ anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) measures and the country’s compliance with FATF Recommendations.

Rating Upgrades

The CFATF has upgraded Barbados’ rating on several recommendations, including:

• Assessing risks and applying a risk-based approach
• Confiscation and provisional measures
• Targeted financial sanctions related to proliferation
• Reporting of suspicious transactions

Additionally, the organization has maintained its largely compliant rating for recommendations 2, 5, and 18, and partially compliant rating for recommendations 23 and 24.

Rating Downgrades

However, Barbados’ rating was downgraded on two recommendations:

• Mutual legal assistance: freezing and confiscation
• Statistics

The CFATF also agreed to maintain the country’s partially compliant rating for recommendations 15 and 21.

New Measures Implemented

The report also examines whether Barbados’ measures meet the requirements of FATF Recommendations that have changed since its 2018 mutual evaluation, taking into account any new measures implemented by the country.