FATF blacklist

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The FATF blacklist was the common shorthand description for the Financial Action Task Force list of "Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories" (NCCTs). ^[1][2] The FATF blacklist or OECD blacklist has been issued by the Financial Action Task Force since 2000 and lists countries which it judges to be non-cooperative in the global fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, calling them "Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories" (NCCTs).^[3] Although non-appearance on the blacklist was perceived to be a mark of approbation for offshore financial centres (or "tax havens") who are sufficiently well regulated to meet all of the FATF's criteria, in practice, the list included countries that did not operate as offshore financial centres.^{[citation needed]} The FATF updates the blacklist regularly, adding or deleting entries.^[3]

History

FATF was established by the G-7 Summit that was held in Paris in 1989. Founding stakeholders include the G-7 Heads of State or Government, President of the European Commission and eight other countries.^[4]

The term "non-cooperative" was criticized by some analysts as misleading, as a number of countries on the list simply lacked the infrastructure or resources to cope with relatively sophisticated financial criminals who tried to operate there. Since 2008 the FATF has, at the behest of G20 leaders, installed a more analytical process of identifying jurisdictions deficient in their anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regimes.^[3]

Primary Works

One of the main objectives of the FATF is to establish norms and standards of “legal, regulatory and operational measures” to fight against money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the security and integrity of the international financial system. However, FATF “has no investigative authority.” FATF works with nation-states to bring legislative changes and regulatory reforms in the aforementioned sectors.^[3] In addition, FATF also provides policy recommendations that meet international standards to countries for combating “money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. FATF has been providing policy recommendations since 1990 and their recommendations have revised four times since then. FATF also monitors the situations of its members in establishing adequate measures and institutions to fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. FATF also makes sure that it is aware of national-level vulnerabilities of its member states “with the aim of protecting the international financial system from misuse.”^[5]

Member States

According to its official website, there are 39 member of FATF, representing most financial centres around the world.^[6]

1.  Argentina
2.  Australia
3.  Austria
4.  Belgium
5.  Brazil
6.  Canada
7.  China
8.  Denmark
9.  European Commission
10.  Finland
11.  France
12.  Germany
13.  Greece
14.  Gulf Cooperation Council
15.  Hong Kong, China
16.  Iceland
17.  India
18.  Ireland
19.  Israel
20.  Italy
21.  Japan
22.  South Korea
23.  Luxembourg
24.  Malaysia
25.  Mexico
26.  Netherlands
27.  New Zealand
28.  Norway
29.  Portugal
30.  Russian Federation
31.  Saudi Arabia
32.  Singapore
33.  South Africa
34.  Spain
35.  Sweden
36.   Switzerland
37.  Turkey
38.  United Kingdom
39.  United States