Home > Legal & compliance > FATF: Gibraltar deadlines have now “expired”
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global anti-money laundering body, pushed Gibraltar to make continued progress on its strategic deficiencies as the body warned that “all deadlines have now expired”.
The FATF maintains a list of jurisdictions subject to increased monitoring, known colloquially as the “grey list”.
Gibraltar has taken a number of steps to strengthen the effectiveness of its anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing (AML/ CTF) regime since being placed on the list in the FATF’s June 2022 plenary, the same meeting that saw Malta removed from the same list.
The body said at the time that Gibraltar’s status as a major gambling hub was a significant factor in its decision. In particular criticising the government’s failure in “applying sufficient fines for anti-money laundering failings”.
The FATF noted the British Overseas Territory’s progress in this regard, which has included the dialling up of enforcement action by imposing financial penalties as well as the publication of cases. However, the body noted that one year after being placed on the list all deadlines have now passed.
As such, the FATF encouraged Gibraltar to continue to implement its action plan to address its ongoing strategic deficiencies “as soon as possible”.
“Gibraltar should continue to work on implementing its action plan to address its strategic deficiencies, including by showing that it is able to pursue more final confiscation judgments commensurate with the risk and context of Gibraltar,” said the body.
The update on the status of Malta’s progress to address its AML/ CTF vulnerabilities took place on Friday at the conclusion of the third Plenary of the FATF under the leadership of T. Raja Kumar.
In the FATF’s February plenary the body took note of Gibraltar’s political commitment to work with the intergovernmental organisation. While on that occasion, it made clear there had been progress, the lack of action on confiscation orders meant that the territory would not be removed from the list.
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