The Commission has today issued an amendment to the country list in Appendix I of the Handbook on Countering Financial Crime (AML/CFT/CPF) (the “Handbook”) reflecting the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”)’s updated list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, which added Bolivia and the British Virgin Islands. The British Virgin Islands have been added to Appendix I whereas Bolivia was already included due to being listed by other relevant external sources. FATF has removed Croatia, Mali and Tanzania from its list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, however whilst Croatia is removed from Appendix I, Mali and Tanzania remain due to being listed by other relevant external sources.
The Commission wishes to remind all licensees that a jurisdiction’s inclusion on Appendix I does not automatically make business relationships with a connection to that jurisdiction high risk. Licensees should consider the nature and materiality of that jurisdictional link in their risk assessment, particularly where the change in the jurisdictional risk has little or no impact on other relevant risk factors within the business relationship, such as the type of customer, the customer or beneficial owner’s risk profile, activities, source of wealth and funds, or to the product or service offered by the licensee.
The clean and tracked version of the Handbook (including Appendix I) can be accessed via the Handbook page, with Appendix I available on the Notices, Instructions & Warnings page.
The FATF page on High-Risk and Other Monitored Jurisdictions can be found here.
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