Jamaica’s Progress in Combating Money Laundering: A Look at the Country’s AML Compliance
FATF Recommendations: The Assessment
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Mutual Evaluation Report, published in 2017, assessed Jamaica’s efforts towards implementing the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) measures. Overview of Jamaica’s ratings:
- Risk assessment and applying a risk-based approach: Partially Compliant
- National cooperation and coordination: Large Compliant
- Money laundering offenses: Large Compliant
- Terrorist financing offenses: Large Compliant
- … (Details for the remaining ratings below)
Rating Breakdown
| Recommendation Number | Jamaica’s Rating |
|---|---|
| R.1 - Risk assessment and applying a risk-based approach | Partially Compliant (PC) |
| R.2 - National cooperation and coordination | Large Compliant (LC) |
| R.3 - Money laundering offenses | Large Compliant (LC) |
| R.4 - Confiscation and provisional measures | Large Compliant (LC) |
| R.5 - Terrorist financing offenses | Large Compliant (LC) |
| R.6 - Targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism and terrorist financing | NC |
| R.7 - Targeted financial sanctions related to proliferation | Partially Compliant (PC) |
| R.8 - Non-profit organizations | No Conclusion (NC) |
| R.9 - Financial institution secrecy laws | Compliant (C) |
| R.10 - Customer due diligence | Partially Compliant (PC) |
| R.11 - Record keeping | Partially Compliant (PC) |
| R.12 - Politically exposed persons | Partially Compliant (PC) |
| … (Details for the remaining ratings below) | |
| R.22 - Designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs): Customer due diligence | Partially Compliant (PC) |
| R.23 - DNFBPs: Other measures | Partially Compliant (PC) |
| … | |
| R.26 - Regulation and supervision of financial institutions | Large Compliant (LC) |
| R.28 - Regulation and supervision of DNFBPs | Large Compliant (LC) |
| R.29 - Financial intelligence units | Large Compliant (LC) |
| R.30 - Responsibilities of law enforcement and investigative authorities | Large Compliant (LC) |
| R.31 - Powers of law enforcement and investigative authorities | Large Compliant (LC) |
| R.32 - Cash couriers | Large Compliant (LC) |
| R.33 - Statistics | Large Compliant (LC) |
| R.34 - Guidance and feedback | Large Compliant (LC) |
| R.35 - Sanctions | Large Compliant (LC) |
| R.36 - International instruments | Large Compliant (LC) |
| R.37 - Mutual legal assistance | Compliant (C) |
| R.38 - Mutual legal assistance: Freezing and confiscation | Large Compliant (LC) |
| R.39 - Extradition | Compliant (C) |
| R.40 - Other forms of international cooperation | Large Compliant (LC) |
Continuous Progress Required
With a substantial number of Large Compliant and Partially Compliant ratings, Jamaica has displayed significant improvement in the area of countering money laundering and terrorist financing. Nevertheless, it remains crucial to continue making advancements, especially in addressing inconclusive findings on non-profit organizations and the inability to fully comply with targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism and terrorist financing.