Financial Crime World

Financial Crime Reporting Guidelines in Suriname: A Mixed Bag of Compliance

Suriname’s financial system has been found to be only partially compliant with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations, as revealed by a recent report from the country’s mutual evaluation.

Assessment Highlights

  • Suriname is partially compliant with 15 out of the 40 FATF Recommendations.
  • The country is largely compliant with six recommendations and non-compliant with four.
  • The assessment evaluated Suriname’s ability to implement measures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as its cooperation with international efforts to combat financial crime.

Areas for Improvement

  • National cooperation and coordination mechanisms
    • Lack of effective mechanisms to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing
    • Inadequate coordination between government agencies and financial institutions
  • Laws and regulations related to money laundering and terrorist financing
    • Insufficient laws and regulations in place to prevent the misuse of shell companies and other legal arrangements for criminal purposes
    • Limited transparency and beneficial ownership requirements for legal persons and arrangements
  • Supervision of financial institutions
    • Inadequate supervision and monitoring of financial institutions to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing

Positive Developments

  • Implementation of measures to prevent the use of correspondent banking relationships for money laundering and terrorist financing
  • Improvement in transparency and beneficial ownership requirements for legal persons and arrangements

Future Steps

  • Suriname is required to submit a follow-up report in two years’ time to demonstrate its progress in implementing the recommendations.
  • The findings of the report will inform Suriname’s efforts to strengthen its financial system and improve its cooperation with international partners to combat financial crime.

Overall, while Suriname has made some progress in implementing measures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, there is still much work to be done to achieve full compliance with FATF Recommendations.