FATF high risk and other monitored jurisdictions

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6 July 2020

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has issued a Call for Action in relation to two countries – Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Iran. The FATF calls upon all jurisdictions, including New Zealand, to apply AML/CFT counter-measures to protect the international financial system from the ongoing money laundering, terrorism financing, and proliferation financing risks emanating from the DPRK and Iran. On 20 May 2020, the Ministry of Justice and New Zealand Police issued a joint statement in relation to these countries and the FATF Call for Action (Police website PDF, 165KB).

There are also eighteen countries currently on the FATF list of monitored jurisdictions identified to have strategic AML/CFT deficiencies. Two of these countries, Iceland and Mongolia, were identified by the FATF on 30 June 2020 to have made substantial progress completing action plans to address their deficiencies. The other sixteen countries are actively working with the FATF to address their strategic AML/CFT deficiencies: Albania, The Bahamas, Barbados, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, Jamaica, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zimbabwe. Further information in relation to the AML/CFT deficiencies of these countries is available on the FATF website: Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring – 30 June 2020 (FATF website).

If you undertake activities or transactions involving a country with insufficient AML/CFT systems in place, your AML/CFT programme must adopt measures to manage and mitigate the associated money laundering and terrorism financing risks.