Barbados has just five weeks to ensure that it has “all its ducks in a row” to pass an onsite assessment, which it hopes will get it off the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) dreaded grey list and the European Union (EU) blacklist.
Attorney General Dale Marshall SC said FATF assessors will be in Bridgetown in January 2024 to conduct the assessment and the government is “leaving no stone unturned” to make the grade.
“We spent all of last week briefing all of the sectors. We have briefed the private sector, the public sector, we have briefed ministers of government who will have to meet with the assessor [and] judges, so we are leaving no stone unturned, but there is still a lot more to do,” he said on Wednesday.
He also disclosed that over the next five weeks, including over the Christmas holidays, “we are going into a greater level of detail” with all industry partners.
“The assessors, we know they will want to meet with accountants. So we have to be satisfied that when they go to the accountants, the accountants are on the same page and are intimately familiar with what we are talking about. They [the assessors] are going to want to meet with lawyers and real estate agents; we have to make sure that while the government’s side has its ducks in a row . . . the private sector has its ducks in a row as well,” the Attorney General maintained.
Marshall told officials attending the launch of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority Compliance Unit’s new website launch at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre that he expects the country will do well in the onsite assessment.
“That onsite is all that stands between us and getting off of the FATF’s grey list and the EU black list. It hasn’t been easy; it has taken up so much of our time and effort . . . . We have had to devote all of our resources to get to this point, and I am optimistic that in January, we shall have reason to celebrate. But the bad news is as soon as we get out of this round, there is another one coming so the Compliance Unit is going to be around for a long, long time,” the AG said.
He explained that officials had spent the last three years working through all the FATF’s requirements and had now advanced to the final stage.
“This onsite is to establish that all of the measures that we have put in place are effective and sustainable. . . . Once we satisfy them of that, then they will make a recommendation to the plenary meeting in February, and the plenary will hopefully accept that recommendation that Barbados be removed from the grey list. So we’re very optimistic that the assessors, in January, will be fully satisfied that we have covered all of the things that we have to cover,” Marshall added.
However, he quickly pointed out that getting off the FATF’s grey list did not automatically translate to removal from the EU’s blacklist.
“The EU is a different animal to the FATF. The FATF is the global standards-setting body, but the EU, as a set of states, reserves the right to decide if they accept the position taken by the FATF or not. . . . So it is not an automatic thing to happen, but our expectation, based on all of our bilaterals with EU representatives . . . . is so long as we are off of the FATF grey list, we would be removed from the EU blacklist.
“Removal from the blacklist is key, because a lot of our businesses – reinsurance and others – have major clients in Europe, and therefore they have to transact financial business with them. The problem with being on these lists is that it affects what is called correspondent banking…. So it is especially important for Barbados that we get off these lists so that the countries with whom we have to do business are comfortable that we are not sending tainted money to their jurisdiction,” he added.
(FW)
