Financial Crime World

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Fiji’s Fight Against Money Laundering: A Comprehensive Review

Fiji has taken significant steps to combat money laundering, but there are still areas where improvement is needed. According to the latest Fiji Follow-Up Report 2023, the country has made progress in implementing the technical requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations.

Assessment and Compliance

The report assesses Fiji’s compliance with 40 key recommendations related to anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism. The findings are categorized as compliant, largely compliant, partially compliant, or non-compliant.

Areas of Strength

Fiji has achieved a high level of compliance in several areas, including:

  • 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)
  • Targeted 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)
  • Money or value transfer services (R.14)
  • New technologies (R.15)

Areas for Improvement

However, there are areas where Fiji needs to improve, including:

  • Wire transfers (R.16)
  • Reliance on third parties (R.17)
  • Internal controls and foreign branches and subsidiaries (R.18)
  • Higher-risk countries (R.19)
  • Reporting of suspicious transactions (R.20)
  • Tipping-off and confidentiality (R.21)
  • DNFBPs: customer due diligence (R.22)
  • DNFBPs: other measures (R.23)
  • Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons (R.24)
  • Regulation and supervision of financial institutions (R.26)
  • Powers of supervisors (R.27)
  • Regulation and supervision of DNFBPs (R.28)
  • Financial intelligence units (R.29)
  • Responsibilities of law enforcement and investigative authorities (R.30)
  • Powers of law enforcement and investigative authorities (R.31)
  • 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)

Conclusion

While Fiji has achieved a high level of compliance with many FATF Recommendations, there are still areas where improvement is needed. The country must continue to prioritize its efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing to maintain a strong reputation as a stable and secure financial hub in the Pacific region.