The Barbados Consumer Empowerment Network (BCEN) has taken a bold step onto the global financial stage, urging the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to revise anti-money laundering (AML) rules that it says unfairly burden low-risk Barbadian consumers.
The move has received the backing of the club of the world’s richest nations — the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) — in an unprecedented participation in the FATF’s public consultations.
The global financial watchdog is revising standards related to anti-money laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) to ensure low-risk consumers are not unfairly impacted.
BCEN Executive Director Maureen Holder said that as part of its advocacy for fair and balanced consumer policies, the consumer advocate sought to address issues affecting financial inclusion and regulatory fairness in Barbados.
Holder noted that her consumer organisation reached out to the FATF last year to highlight how commercial banks were over-applying AML and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations, creating challenges for law-abiding, low-risk consumers. She said that only recently, through Consumers International (CI), BCEN was invited to make a photo presentation to the OECD ministerial in October but opted instead to send a letter.
The consumer advocate explained that it was through that correspondence BCEN was able to voice “concerns about what we believed to be disproportionate AML/KYC regulatory practices affecting consumers and businesses in Barbados”.
“Subsequent to this,” Holder stated, “BCEN was assisted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to access FATF’s public consultations and used it as an avenue to voice concerns about disproportionate regulatory practices affecting consumers and businesses in Barbados on November 14.”
She said her group was able to submit a provision that it felt should be included in the text draft revisions.
BCEN’s submission addressed two key areas: the role of supervisors in assessing risk mitigation actions; and the encouragement of simplified measures for low-risk situations, Holder disclosed.
The consumer activist said her group felt the Central Bank of Barbados could make a substantive contribution to the revisions and, as a result, informed them about FATF public consultations, providing the necessary links. The deadline date for submissions is December 6.
BCEN’s submission offered support in areas such as the Role of Supervisors in Assessing Risk Mitigation and Encouraging Simplified Measures for Low-Risk Situations.
Holder argued: “BCEN is concerned about the role of supervisors in assessing risk mitigation measures and preventing excessive compliance burdens. The proposed amendment for supervisors to ‘review and take into account the risk mitigation measures’ undertaken by financial institutions is a critical step toward more nuanced oversight.
“In Barbados, we believe that banks often adopt excessive measures due to a partial understanding of risks, which leads to overcompliance. This overcompliance creates unnecessary barriers for consumers, particularly in low-risk categories.”
She suggested that requiring supervisors to engage more deeply with the specific risk mitigation actions of financial institutions would support a more tailored and proportionate approach, reducing the compliance load on institutions and enhancing consumer access.
The BCEN executive director insisted that such oversight would encourage financial institutions to focus their resources on addressing genuinely higher-risk scenarios, ultimately fostering an environment where ordinary citizens are not penalised by excessive regulatory measures.
The consumer body also “strongly” supports FATF’s proposed revision to encourage simplified measures for low-risk customers.
Holder contended that excessive compliance requirements in Barbados have limited financial access for many citizens, including elderly individuals and low-income earners.
“Shifting the language from ‘may allow’ to ‘should allow and encourage’ would empower financial institutions to adopt a risk-based approach that aligns with actual risk levels, thus promoting greater financial inclusion,” she argued. “This change would facilitate access to basic financial services for those who pose minimal risk, reflecting FATF’s commitment to a balanced, proportionate regulatory framework.”
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
