The Financial Action Task Force today announced that it will issue updated risk-based guidance on beneficial ownership and transparency of legal arrangements by the end of the month. FATF last year announced several amendments to its BOI guidance in Recommendation 25 and sought public input on the changes. The revised guidance “will help identify the corrupt, sanctions evaders, money launderers and tax evaders who hide or launder their criminal property or activities in shell companies or other complex structures as well as trusts or other legal arrangements,” according to the international body.
In addition, FATF agreed to publish an overview of the steps that it and member jurisdictions with the most materially important virtual asset activity—based on trading volume and user base—have taken to regulate and supervise virtual asset service providers (Recommendation 16), and announced it was moving forward with proposed amendments to guidance regarding cross-border payments systems (Recommendation 15). FATF also determined that Barbados, Gibraltar, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates are no longer subject to increased monitoring based on improvements to their anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism regimes.
