The 2022 and 2013 Methodologies for Assessing Technical Compliance with the FATF Recommendations and the Effectiveness of AML/CFT/CPF Systems

As amended in August 2024.

The FATF assesses each member’s implementation of the FATF Recommendations and its actions to tackle money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction on an ongoing basis. The Methodology for Assessing Technical Compliance with the FATF Recommendations and the Effectiveness of AML/CFT/CPF Systems (The FATF Methodology in short) sets out the assessment process which focuses on two distinct areas: 

• Effectiveness - each assessment will have a significant focus on effectiveness, to ensure that countries are implementing and making use of the laws, regulations and policies that are being passed. A country must demonstrate that, in the context of the risks it is exposed to, it has an effective framework to protect the financial system from abuse.   There will also be a greater emphasis on the major risks and context. This will ensure that countries, and the assessors reviewing them, focus on the areas where the risks are highest, not just lower-risk areas where it is comparatively easier to launch investigations and secure convictions. The assessment team will look at 11 key areas, or immediate outcomes, to determine the level of effectiveness of a country's efforts. 
• Technical compliance - each assessment also looks at whether a country has all the necessary laws, regulations and legal instruments in place, in line with the technical requirements of the 40 FATF Recommendations.  This legal, regulatory and operational framework forms the basis for an effective system to deprive criminals from the proceeds of their crimes and terrorists from their funding and prevent the harm they can do to our society. 

The FATF amended its assessment methodology in 2022. The FATF commenced its 5th round of evaluations under this methodology in 2024 and FATF-Style Regional Bodies will also progressively use this methodology once they complete their previous round of evaluations.

The 2013 FATF Methodology for assessing compliance with the FATF Recommendations and the effectiveness of AML/CFT systems and the Procedures for the FATF Fourth Round of AML/CFT Mutual Evaluations will continue to apply to countries being evaluated under the previous round of evaluations and related follow-up processes.

Last updated in June 2023

The FATF conducts mutual evaluations of its members’ levels of implementation of the FATF Recommendations on an ongoing basis. These are peer reviews, where members from different countries assess another country. The FATF Methodology for assessing compliance with the FATF Recommendations and the effectiveness of AML/CFT systems sets out the evaluation process.  

Assessments focus on two areas, effectiveness and technical compliance.  

• The emphasis of any assessment is on effectiveness.  A country must demonstrate that, in the context of the risks it is exposed to, it has an effective framework to protect the financial system from abuse.   The assessment team will look at 11 key areas, or immediate outcomes, to determine the level of effectiveness of a country's efforts.  
• The assessment also looks at whether a country has met all the technical requirements of each of the 40 FATF Recommendations in its laws, regulations and other legal instruments to combat money laundering, and the financing of terrorism and proliferation.  

A mutual evaluation report provides an in-depth description and analysis of a country’s system for preventing criminal abuse of the financial system as well as focused recommendations to the country to further strengthen its system.  It is a starting point for the country, as it identifies the priority actions that the country must take to strengthen national frameworks and make its AML/CFT/CPF actions more effective. The Recommendations from the mutual evaluation reports will be more results-oriented, focusing on specific actions and timelines to tackle money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of weapons of mass destruction. 

The Methodology will be used by the FATF, the FATF-Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs) and other assessment bodies such as the IMF and the World Bank. The Methodology was adopted in February 2022, and regularly updated (see also 'Information on updates made to the FATF Methodology'). The round of mutual evaluations based on the Methodology adopted in 2022 will be a six-year cycle, significantly shorter than earlier rounds, which lasted 10 years on average.