We were privileged to have joined us as a guest on AML Grey Matters Elisabeth Lees of Claritas to discuss the FATF Mutual Evaluations changes in methodology.
Elisabeth explained the National Risk Assessment process, the observation period, progress report timelines, and how the assessors and plenary meet and decide which countries get put on the grey list. The Fifth Round commences in 2025, and these next few years will be difficult for countries as the assessment process will require information, data, and statistics over the past four years.
The next round’s methodology criteria will assess technical compliance with the 40+ Recommendations. But the new focus will be on effectiveness and the 11 “Immediate Outcomes that measure effectiveness.
In addition to being able to measure and report Immediate Outcomes to pass the effectiveness criteria, countries need to be ready to meet several revisions to Recommendations R.1, R.7, and R.25 and be aware that R.4 and R.38 have the potential to be revised soon.
So what’s all this mean for the average compliance officer and AML-regulated business? Well, expect some significant changes in the next few years. Getting off a grey list won’t be the relief many anticipate, and staying off will be an ongoing challenge for every country. Watch the entire broadcast and start planning how your organization will meet the next wave of changes.