The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has published a paper outlining the priorities of its incoming president, Santiago Otamendi.
Among other things the paper notes that de-risking and de-marketing by global banks can lead to financial exclusion and increase the risks society faces from money laundering and terrorist financing, including by increasing the use of cash and of unregulated channels. FATF will therefore remain focused on financial inclusion through:
- continuing work with others, including the Financial Stability Board, to monitor and address the risks from the decline in the number of corresponding banking relationships, as well as the practice to exit or restrict business relationships with whole categories of customers (non-profit organisations (NPOs), foreign exchange houses, money value transfer services etc); and
- a continued constructive dialogue with NPOs and financial institutions to prevent the misuse of NPOs for terrorist financing, while continuing to monitor the proper implementation of FATF Recommendation 8 to help ensure that it does not disrupt or discourage legitimate non-profit activities.