At the conclusion the plenary meeting in February, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) informed U.S. financial institutions of new updates to the list of jurisdictions with anti-money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism, and countering the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (“AML/CFT/CPF”) deficiencies. The Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”), which sets international standards for AML/CFT/CPF, updated its list of Jurisdictions Under Increased Monitoring (jurisdictions with strategic AML/CFT/CPF deficiencies who are actively working with the FATF to address their deficiencies) to add Laos and Nepal to the list and remove the Philippines from that list.
The FATF’s list of High-Risk Jurisdictions Subject to a Call for Action (jurisdictions with significant strategic AML/CFT/CPF deficiencies) was unchanged and still contains the following countries: Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (“DPRK”), and Burma. Consequently, the FATF continues to call for jurisdictions to apply countermeasures on Iran and DPRK. While Burma is not subject to countermeasures, the FATF calls for jurisdictions to apply enhanced due diligence in transactions with Burmese operators.