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All tagged CFT
◢ Over the last six months, the public debate in Iran around FATF-related reforms has reached a surreal crescendo. Seldom do countries experience such intensive political debates over measures as technical and obtuse as financial regulations. But 143 lawmakers voted bravely to pass the final of four bills required by the FATF action plan, in a landmark vote that may increases chances that Iran maintains ties with international financial institutions in the face of returning sanctions.
◢ In a recent speech, Under Secretary of the Treasury Sigal Mandelker warned that foreign companies that maintain a presence in Iran must conduct “extra due diligence to keep them from being caught in Iran’s deceptive web.” But background conversations with several compliance specialists reveal that US sanctions are a major barrier to key AML/CTF reforms in Iran. Industry-standard compliance software is not accessible for Iranian end users, leaving some experts to conclude that Iran is being “set up to fail.”
◢ At its plenary meeting in Paris, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) opted “to continue the suspension of countermeasures” related to Iran’s inclusion in the so-called “blacklist” of countries with deficiencies in anti-money laundering (AML) and combating financing of terrorism (CFT) standards. The suspension will be in place until October 2018. The suspension can be seen as a victory for European and Iranian multilateral cooperation in the face of the increasingly hostile American posture.
◢ Iran is facing the end of a four month extension given by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for the reform of the country’s AML/CFT regulations. Iran will be hoping for a further extension of the suspension of countermeasures at the June plenary of the FATF. Some FATF members have sought to characterize such extensions as exceptional. However, extensions are a common procedure, and FATF ought to treat Iran’s case in fair recognition of this fact.
