One might think that all countries would be willing to enact anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.  Wouldn’t it be in a country’s best interest to protect its financial assets by enforcing tighter controls on how potential terrorists and organized crime leaders could potentially manipulate their organizations’ financial stability?

Yet, it’s not quite as logical as going from Point A to Point B.  For example, Guyana is in the news this week for refusing to approve the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act adopted by the Caribbean Community.  Guyana has a parliamentary government, and a small faction of its members are not supporting the adoption of the AML regulations without governmental concessions in other areas (sound familiar?).

Because any country without tight AML regulations for its financial institutions presents a global risk, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force has called for its other members to apply counter measures and pressure on Guyana.  Moreover, it identified Belize and, to a lesser extent, Domenica, as also potential jurisdictions needing further watch.  The CFATF has sent an official to Guyana to negotiate with the faction that is holding up approvals in Guyana’s parliament.

There are other countries and financial institutions that the U.S. has on its watchlist, specifically due to their failure to enact tough AML regulations:

• Myanmar
• Infobank (Trustbank) in Belarus
• Banco Delta Asia SARL in Macau
• Iran
• Lebanese Canadian Bank SAL in Lebanon

by Richard Paxton

 (Want to learn more?  Alacer’s AML experts will be attending the 19^th Annual AML & Financial Crimes Conference, being held March 16-19 at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, FL.  Send an email to me at Richard@alacergroup.com to arrange a chat.)