Saint Lucia Makes Progress in KYC Compliance

Saint Lucia has made significant strides in addressing technical compliance deficiencies identified in its Mutual Evaluation, resulting in upgrades to several key recommendations.

Upgrades to Compliance Recommendations

According to the latest report, Saint Lucia has moved from partial compliance to full compliance on nine recommendations, and from partial to largely compliant on seven others. Specifically:

• 18 recommendations have been upgraded to compliant or largely compliant, demonstrating Saint Lucia’s commitment to improving its know-your-customer (KYC) compliance.
  • Recommendations 1, 2, 5, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 27, 29, 34, 35, 37, and 40 have all been upgraded to compliant or largely compliant.

Outstanding Challenges

However, Saint Lucia still faces challenges in implementing two recommendations:

• Recommendation 15: Customer due diligence
• Recommendation 38: Ongoing monitoring of transactions

These recommendations remain partially compliant, indicating that the country needs to improve its customer due diligence and ongoing transaction monitoring processes.

Current Status

Saint Lucia currently has 30 recommendations rated as compliant or largely compliant, with two remaining partially compliant. As a result, the country will continue to be subject to enhanced follow-up reporting requirements until it demonstrates significant improvement in these areas.

Next Steps

The next enhanced follow-up report is due in November 2024, giving Saint Lucia ample time to address the outstanding issues and further strengthen its KYC compliance framework. With continued efforts, the country can move closer to achieving full compliance with international standards and bolster its reputation as a responsible financial jurisdiction.