RegTech Intelligence 
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has been very busy. The outcomes of their recent plenary meeting have been released alongside a small library of guidance documents.
The FATF have released guidance on how countries and the private sector should handle the money-laundering risks associated with prepaid cards, mobile payments and digital currencies. After extensive private consultation with the private sector the guidance examines how these payment products and services work, and how to regulate and supervise their use.
According to the U.S Treasury department, “These payment methods are increasingly important for global commerce, but may also have the potential of being used for money laundering and terrorist financing,”
The FATF have also issued guidance to help implement recommendations related to the financial risks posed by politically exposed people, or PEPs. This guidance is welcome in the light of the recent 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which is moving towards implementing the FATF recommendations, and has left firms puzzled over how to treat domestic PEPs and members of international organisations.
In addition to this, the FATF updated a guidance document on best practices for implementing sanctions related to terrorist financing and another on protecting non-profit organizations from abuse by terrorist groups.
The revised Recommendations include several notable new elements, including a new requirement to implement proliferation-related sanctions under relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions. The Recommendations also include, for the first time, an obligation for countries to assess their own money laundering and terrorist financing risks and develop risk-based strategies to address the identified threats and vulnerabilities.
Alongside all of this, FATF congratulated Bolivia, Brunei, Darussalam, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand on meeting FATF standards for anti-money laundering and counter-terror financing regimes, and establishing the legal and regulatory framework each said it would do in an action plan.
Countries that fail to implement FATF recommendations run the risk of being labelled as high-risk or uncooperative jurisdictions, thereby making it more costly and difficult for those nations to do business with the banking systems of the body’s member states. Those countries that failed to meet these standards were named and shamed with Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda now put at risk of being black listed.