The Bahamas’ progress in strengthening its framework to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing

As a result of The Bahamas’ progress in strengthening its framework to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing since their 2017 mutual evaluation, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) has re-rated the country on 13 of the 40 Recommendations.

The Bahamas has been in an enhanced follow-up process, following the adoption of the CFATF mutual evaluation, which assessed the effectiveness of The Bahamas’ anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) measures and the country’s compliance with the FATF Recommendations. In line with the FATF Procedures for mutual evaluations, The Bahamas has reported back to the CFATF on the progress it has made to strengthen its AML/CFT framework.

This report analyses The Bahamas’ progress in addressing the technical compliance deficiencies identified in the mutual evaluation report.   

To reflect this progress, the CFATF has re-rated The Bahamas on the following Recommendations:

• 1 – Assessing risks and applying a risk-based approach from partially compliant to largely compliant
• 2 – National cooperation and coordination from partially compliant to compliant
• 6 – Targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism and terrorist financing from non-compliant to partially compliant
• 10 – Customer due diligence from partially compliant to compliant
• 12 – Politically exposed persons from partially compliant to compliant
• 15 – New technologies from partially compliant to largely compliant
• 17 – Reliance on third parties from partially compliant to compliant
• 18 – Internal controls and foreign branches and subsidiaries from partially compliant to largely compliant
• 23 – DNFBPs: other measures – from partially compliant to largely compliant
• 25 – Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal arrangements - from partially compliant to largely compliant
• 30 – Responsibilities of law enforcement and investigative authorities from partially compliant to compliant
• 32 – Cash couriers from partially compliant to largely compliant
• 35 – Sanctionsfrom partially compliant to largely compliant

The CFATF agreed to maintain the largely compliant for Recommendation 5, the compliant rating for Recommendation 21 and partially compliant rating for Recommendations 7, 8, 19, 22, 26, 27, 28 and 33.  

Mutual Evaluation Report of The Bahamas, 2017

Carribean Financial Action Task Force