FINTRAC Advisory Concerning Financial Transactions Related to High-Risk Countries Identified by FATF

On July 17, 2023, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (FINTRAC) issued an advisory (the “Advisory”) concerning financial transactions related to countries identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as high-risk jurisdictions and under increased monitoring.

Background

The Advisory follows two statements recently issued by the FATF:

• a statement on high-risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action, which identifies jurisdictions for which the FATF has called on countries to apply countermeasures or enhanced due diligence given significant strategic deficiencies noted in those jurisdictions’ regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financings, and financing of proliferation; and
  
• a statement on jurisdictions under increased monitoring, which identifies jurisdictions that have developed an action plan with the FATF to address deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) strategies.

The Advisory also references earlier statements issued by the FATF in respect of various matters concerning high-risk jurisdictions.

Takeaway from the Advisory

The Advisory focuses on key aspects of various FATF statements and notes FINTRAC expectations. FINTRAC issued a similar advisory on March 20, 2023. See our March 22 Update. The July 2023 Advisory refers to the following notable change:

• Cameroon, Croatia, and Vietnam are now subject to the FATF’s increased monitoring process and appear on the ‘grey list.’

For further information concerning the matters referenced in the Advisory and what they might mean from a compliance perspective, please contact any member of our Financial Services Regulatory Group.

The author would like to thank Gurratan Gill, Summer Law Student, for his assistance in writing this Update.