CRS – The Financial Action Task Force: An Overview

The Financial Action Task Force: An Overview, James K. Jackson, Specialist in International Trade and Finance. May 9, 2012

  • “The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, or the 9/11 Commission, recommended that tracking terrorist financing “must remain front and center in U.S. counterterrorism efforts” (see The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, U.S. Government Printing Office, July, 2004. p. 382). As part of these efforts, the United States plays a leading role in the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). The independent, intergovernmental policymaking body was established by the 1989 G-7 Summit in Paris as a result of growing concerns among the summit participants about the threat posed to the international banking system by money laundering. After September 11, 2001, the body expanded its role to include identifying sources and methods of terrorist financing and adopted nine special recommendations on terrorist financing to track terrorists’ funds. The scope of activity of FATF was broadened as a result of the global financial crisis, since financial systems in distress can be more vulnerable to abuse for illegal activities. More recently, the FATF added the proliferation of financing of weapons of mass destruction as one of its areas of surveillance. In April, 2012, the member countries adopted a remodeled set of Forty Recommendations and renewed the FATF’s mandate through December 31, 2020. This report provides an overview of the task force and of its progress to date in gaining broad international support for its recommendations.”
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