On November 12, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an advisory announcing that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has updated its list of jurisdictions that have strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) regimes. 

Specifically, FATF has noted that: (1) Iran and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are subject to the FATF’s call for countermeasures; (2) Algeria, Ecuador, Indonesia and Myanmar are subject to the FATF’s call for enhanced due diligence; (3) Argentina, Cuba, Ethiopia, Tajikistan and Turkey have been removed from the FATF listing and monitoring process; and (4) Guyana has been added to the list of jurisdictions identified by the FATF to have AML/CFT deficiencies, which now includes 18 countries. 

These changes may affect US financial institutions’ obligations and risk-based approaches with respect to the relevant jurisdictions. National Futures Association (NFA) has issued a notice reminding futures commission merchants and introducing brokers to review the FinCEN advisory to ensure that their AML programs have the most current information on FATF-identified jurisdictions with AML/CFT deficiencies, and revise their AML programs accordingly. 

The FinCEN Advisory is available here. 

The NFA Notice to Members is available here.