Jul 20 2009 Martin Coyle
The Financial Action Task Force is still in the dark over government proposals contained in its recent organised crime paper to reform the global anti-money laundering body. Despite this, the organisation said that it would be receptive to any suggestions.
Last week the Home Office, in its effort to create a more hostile environment for criminals, said that it would seek to strengthen FATF's capabilities and introduce monitoring to measure its effectiveness. The government said that it would also push for a more "activist" approach against problematic territories. Despite the rhetoric no further details have been released on what the changes would mean for the Paris-based organisation.
A FATF spokesman told Complinet that the body had not heard anything yet from the UK but said this was fairly normal as its member countries were continually working on various strategies. He said that any proposals would emerge from HM Treasury, which works as the UK's lead agency with FATF on new policy issues. He added that he had heard nothing about the report until Complinet contacted FATF.
The spokesman said that he would be surprised if the UK was set to propose a wholesale reform of the body as it had only recently led the body. In April 2008 the group's mandate was reissued by the UK presidency on a four-year time period. The UK had a "really good shot" to change things then, he said.
"I have no idea, and I would know if there were specific proposals brought by any of our delegations on a programme of reform. I would be a little bit surprised in that the UK presidency [of FATF] was in 2007-2008 and during that time the FATF redid its mandate," he added.
The spokesman said that the UK was heavily involved with FATF as a G7 member and a member of its steering group and had a certain influence within the organisation. "If there is anything they want to do then it is not problematic; the FATF is meant to be flexible and if individual countries or groups of countries find things that need to be fixed then usually they don't have to wait for a big reform it would just be a case of bringing the thing in and dealing with it at the time," he said.
The spokesman said that he was not aware of anything connected with FATF that was causing immediate concern among its members. The group is assessing its standards in preparation for the fourth round of mutual evaluations which will start within the next two years. This is a routine process, however. He added that he was not aware of any specific concerns from members about the format of FATF and said that it was too early for a new mandate which will be examined in 2012.
FATF holds formal meetings three times a year, the last of which was in June, as well as informal gatherings throughout the year. FATF is due to publish a typologies report on securities in October followed by one on free trade zones in February. FATF also plans to publish a global threat assessment in June 2010, as well another typologies report on new payment methods such as mobile telephones.
