Financial Crime World

Fiji’s Financial Sanctions Enforcement Under Scrutiny: FATF Report Reveals Mixed Performance

A recent report by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has highlighted Fiji’s mixed performance in enforcing financial sanctions, with some areas requiring significant improvement. The report assesses Fiji’s implementation of anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures, showing that the country is largely compliant in certain areas but partially compliant or non-compliant in others.

The FATF Recommendations: Global Standards for AML/CFT Measures

The FATF Recommendations are a set of global standards for AML/CFT measures, and countries are rated based on their adherence to these requirements. The report assesses Fiji’s implementation of 40 recommendations, with ratings ranging from compliant (C) to non-compliant (NC).

Compliance Areas

In some areas, such as:

  • Assessing risk and applying a risk-based approach (R.1)
  • National cooperation and coordination (R.2)
  • Money laundering offence (R.3)
  • Confiscation and provisional measures (R.4)
  • Terrorist financing offence (R.5)
  • Targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism and terrorist financing (R.6)
  • Regulation and supervision of financial institutions (R.26)

Fiji was found to be compliant.

Areas Requiring Improvement

However, the report also identified areas where Fiji requires improvement, such as:

  • Targeting financial sanctions related to proliferation (R.7)
  • Non-profit organisations (R.8)
  • Financial institution secrecy laws (R.9)
  • Customer due diligence (R.10)
  • Record keeping (R.11)
  • Politically exposed persons (R.12)
  • Correspondent banking (R.13)
  • Reporting of suspicious transactions (R.20)

Partial Compliance

In other areas, such as:

  • Internal controls and foreign branches and subsidiaries (R.18)
  • Reliance on third parties (R.17)
  • Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons and arrangements (R.24) and (R.25)

Fiji was found to be partially compliant.

Non-Compliance

The report also highlighted several areas where Fiji failed to meet the FATF standards, including:

  • Cash couriers (R.32)
  • Statistics (R.33)
  • Guidance and feedback (R.34)
  • Sanctions (R.35)
  • International instruments (R.36)
  • Mutual legal assistance (R.37)
  • Extradition (R.39)
  • Other forms of international cooperation (R.40)

Roadmap for Improvement

The FATF report provides a roadmap for Fiji to improve its AML/CFT regime, with the country required to address several key areas to achieve full compliance. The report is seen as an important tool in helping Fiji to strengthen its financial sanctions enforcement framework and prevent the misuse of its financial system for illicit purposes.

By addressing these areas, Fiji can ensure that its financial sanctions enforcement is robust and effective in preventing the misuse of its financial system for illicit purposes.