Financial Crime World

Financial Crime Risks in Antigua and Barbuda Show Significant Improvement

According to the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) 2018 Mutual Evaluation Report, Antigua and Barbuda has made significant progress in combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

Overall Positive Assessment

The report provides an overall positive assessment of the country’s efforts to combat financial crime. Examiners assessed both technical compliance with the FATF 40 recommendations and the effectiveness of Antigua and Barbuda’s anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) system.

Areas for Improvement

While the report highlights several areas where the country has made significant progress, it also identifies a few areas that require improvement:

  • Vulnerable Non-Profit Organizations: The report notes that there is a need to identify vulnerable non-profit organizations and implement measures to prevent their misuse.
  • Awareness among Lawyers: The CFATF report suggests that lawyers may not have full awareness of their AML/CFT obligations, which requires improvement.
  • Beneficial Ownership Reporting: The country needs to implement the recently enacted requirement for annual reports on beneficial ownership of entities.

Strengths

The Financial Intelligence Unit was commended for its accessibility and ability to analyze and generate financial intelligence. Additionally, the report highlights the country’s timely provision of mutual legal assistance and extradition to other countries.

Progress Since 2007

Significant progress has been made since Antigua and Barbuda’s previous assessment by the CFATF in 2007. Then, over thirty areas were identified as having significant weaknesses. In contrast, the 2018 report identifies only eight areas that require significant improvement.

Recommendations for Improvement

To further improve its anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism regime, the CFATF recommends:

  • Creation of a Serious Offenses Court: The creation of a serious offenses court would help to strengthen the country’s AML/CFT regime.
  • Increased Money Laundering Prosecutions: Greater effort is needed to increase money laundering prosecutions.
  • Risk-Based Examinations: Stronger risk-based examinations of financial institutions are necessary.
  • Assisting Financial Institutions and Non-Financial Businesses: Measures should be taken to assist financial institutions and non-financial businesses and professions to better understand their ML/TF risks.