Financial Crime World

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Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary Meeting Outcomes - March 2022

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The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) held its plenary meeting in March 2022, resulting in significant outcomes that aim to strengthen global efforts against money laundering and terrorist financing.

Key Outcomes

  • Anti-money laundering and terrorist financing: The FATF approved a report on the risks associated with migrant smuggling and agreed to release a guidance for public consultation to help the real estate sector implement risk-based measures.
  • Asset recovery: The FATF agreed to enhance asset recovery by strengthening collaboration between the FATF/FSRBs and Asset Recovery Networks.
  • Synthetic opioids: Delegations started new work on the proceeds of fentanyl and other synthetic opioid trafficking.
  • FATF President: The Plenary agreed on the appointment of a new President of the FATF (2022-2024).
  • Strategic Review: The FATF completed its strategic review, which aimed to streamline processes for mutual evaluations.

Strategic Review

The Strategic Review highlights key areas of success and improvement in combating money laundering and terrorist financing. Notable points include:

Global Compliance and Effectiveness

  • Successes in combating money laundering and terrorist financing
  • Areas that need further improvement

Revised Assessment Methodology

  • Important issues addressed in the revised assessment methodology

Mutual Evaluations

  • The fifth round of mutual evaluations will focus on risk and context, with a stronger emphasis on designated non-financial businesses and professions.

Global Network

The Plenary agreed on the strategic vision for the Global Network, which aims to strengthen partnerships between the FATF/FSRBs. Key points include:

Strategic Vision

  • Aims to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation
  • Supports collective efforts to address these issues

Monitoring Compliance

The FATF concluded that France has a robust and sophisticated Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorist Financing (CFT) framework, but needs improvement in certain areas.