Financial Crime World

Title: Samoa’s Progress in Implementing Anti-Money Laundering Regulations: A Look at the FATF Follow-Up Report 2018

Samoa has shown notable progress in the implementation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations, according to the country’s Follow-Up Report 2018. In this article, we will examine Samoa’s ratings and improvements in various areas related to money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF).

FATF Recommendations Ratings

Below are the ratings for Samoa in relation to the FATF Recommendations:

  • R.1 (Risk Assessing & Risk-based Approach): Partially Compliant
  • R.2 (National Cooperation & Coordination): Largely Compliant
  • R.3 (ML Offence): Largely Compliant
  • …
  • R.19 (Higher-risk countries): Not Evaluated
  • R.20 (Reporting of suspicious transactions): Largely Compliant
  • R.21 (Tipping-off and confidentiality): Compliant
  • R.22 (DNFBPs: Customer Due Diligence): Partially Compliant
  • …
  • R.37 (Mutual legal assistance): Largely Compliant
  • R.38 (Mutual legal assistance: Freezing and Confiscation): Largely Compliant
  • R.39 (Extradition): Largely Compliant
  • R.40 (Other forms of international cooperation): Largely Compliant

Below, we have included a summary of Samoa’s progress in specific areas:

Improvements

  • Record keeping (R.11): Compliant
  • Customer due diligence (R.10, R.22): Largely Compliant
  • Law enforcement and investigative authorities’ responsibilities (R.30): Compliant
  • Mutual legal assistance (R.37-R.39): Largely Compliant

Areas for Improvement

  • Financial institution secrecy laws (R.9): Not Compliant
  • Targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism & TF (R.6, R.25): Partially Compliant
  • Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons (R.24): Partially Compliant
  • Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal arrangements (R.25): Partially Compliant

Key Findings from Samoa’s Follow-Up Report 2018

The FATF Follow-Up Report 2018 highlights Samoa’s progress in several areas, including record keeping, customer due diligence, law enforcement and investigative authorities’ responsibilities, and mutual legal assistance. However, the report also emphasizes issues that Samoa needs to address, such as compliance with financial institution secrecy laws and targeted financial sanctions related to proliferation.

Areas of Progress

  • Record keeping: Samoa adequately maintains records of ML/TF transactions.
  • Customer due diligence: Institutes are taking steps to identify and verify clients, but improvements are needed to fully comply with the recommendations.
  • Law enforcement and investigative authorities: The authorities’ powers and responsibilities are adequate, and they effectively engage in international cooperation.
  • Mutual legal assistance: Samoa’s legal frameworks and practices support cooperation with foreign jurisdictions to investigate and prosecute ML/TF cases.

Areas Requiring Improvement

  • Financial institution secrecy laws: Samoa’s laws prevent the mandatory reporting of certain financial transactions, which hampers effective ML/TF risk mitigation.
  • Targeted financial sanctions: The country’s progress is limited in terms of implementing measures to control ML/TF related to proliferation.
  • Transparency and beneficial ownership: Samoa should further enhance the transparency and availability of information regarding the ownership of legal persons and arrangements.