Financial Crime World

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Dominican Republic Takes Steps to Prevent Financial Crimes, But More Work Needed

Santo Domingo - The Dominican Republic has made significant progress in implementing measures to prevent financial crimes, according to a recent report by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). While the country has demonstrated compliance in several areas, there are still some key areas that require improvement.

FATF’s Mutual Evaluation Report for 2018

The FATF’s report assessed the Dominican Republic’s efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The report found that the country is largely compliant with FATF recommendations on:

  • Assessing risk and applying a risk-based approach (R.1)
  • Implementing targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism and terrorist financing (R.6)

Areas for Improvement

However, the report also identified several areas where the Dominican Republic needs to improve, including:

  • Customer Due Diligence: The country was found to be partially compliant with requirements for customer due diligence (R.10).
  • Record Keeping: The country was found to be partially compliant with requirements for record keeping (R.11).
  • Financial Institution Secrecy Laws: There were concerns about financial institution secrecy laws (R.9), which could hinder efforts to combat money laundering.

Cooperation and Coordination

The report also highlighted the importance of improving cooperation between law enforcement agencies and financial institutions. The Dominican Republic was found to be:

  • Compliant with requirements for national cooperation and coordination (R.2)
  • Compliant with reporting of suspicious transactions (R.20)

Progress and Reforms Needed

Despite these challenges, the FATF report noted that the Dominican Republic has made significant progress in recent years. The country has established a number of specialized units, including a financial intelligence unit, to help combat financial crimes.

To further improve its anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime, the Dominican Republic is expected to implement several key reforms, including:

  • Strengthening customer due diligence requirements
  • Improving record keeping
  • Enhancing cooperation between law enforcement agencies and financial institutions

Roadmap for Improvement

The FATF’s report provides a roadmap for the Dominican Republic to improve its AML/CFT regime and ensure that it is in line with international standards. The country has committed to implementing the necessary reforms and will be subject to further evaluation by the FATF in the coming years.