The Guernsey Financial Services Commission has issued a final version of the revised Handbook on Countering Financial Crime and Terrorist Financing.
Amendments have been made to the handbook to take into account the Bailiwick of Guernsey’s National Risk Assessment on money laundering and the financing of terrorism, published in January.
These changes will help firms identify high-risk countries and territories for money laundering and the financing of terrorism purposes.
In particular, the Commission has created two new appendices:
• Appendix H – lists countries and territories the Financial Action Task Force has identified as having significant strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, financing of terrorism and financing of proliferation for which it has called for the application of countermeasures.
• Appendix I – lists countries and territories identified by the UK and US governments, intergovernmental and supranational organisations such as the FATF, as presenting certain money laundering and financing of terrorism risks. Alongside these sources, information is presented reflecting assessments of a country or territory by non-governmental organisations and thinktanks, which firms may also find useful when they are determining the level of country risk presented by a business relationship or occasional transaction.
The FATF usually updates its lists three times a year, and the Commission will amend Appendices H and I shortly after each FATF update. It will issue a notice of any changes, and highlight jurisdictions that have been added and/or removed from the relevant appendix.
This notice will replace the Business From Sensitive Sources notices. Accordingly, Instruction (Number 01/2020) has been repealed as at 19 June 2020. Appendices H and I can be viewed here
The revised handbook comes into effect on 19 June 2020.
A clean version of the handbook, together with a tracked version reflecting the changes made from the handbook published on 29 April 2020, can be accessed here