A lengthy report which discusses Montserrat’s efforts to prevent illicit financial activities has found it to be largely compliant with international standards.
The 223-page assessment looks at the island’s anti-money laundering, counter financing of terrorism and counter financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction efforts.
It was produced by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) inter-governmental body following a nearly two-week site visit in April 2024 and published in January.
The report analyses Montserrat’s level of compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s 40 recommendations and provides recommendations on how the system can be strengthened.
It is the fourth time the CFATF has carried out an examination of the island’s financial safeguards and produced a mutual evaluation report.
Evaluation process
The report evaluates Montserrat’s progress over the past five years at adopting and implementing mechanisms to prevent financial crimes in the territory.
During the site visit, the island’s compliance with international standards was reviewed in two critical areas.
The first was technical compliance, which measured Montserrat’s alignment with the 40 FATF recommendations.
This assessed the adequacy and robustness of its legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks and their enforcement in addressing financial crime.
The second was effectiveness, which assessed Montserrat’s ability to implement its frameworks effectively, using global benchmarks to evaluate the practical application of measures.
Achievements
Following the evaluation, Montserrat’s performance was discussed and approved at the 59th annual CFATF plenary held in Jamaica in December.
Its ratings are:
Technical compliance
- Fully compliant – 18
- Largely compliant – 16
- Partially compliant – 6
Effectiveness
- Substantial effectiveness – 2
- Moderate effectiveness – 7
- Low effectiveness – 2
A government press release said: “These ratings represent an outstanding achievement for Montserrat and highlights its ability to meet global standards despite significant resource constraints.”
Key outcomes
The press release said this accomplishment reaffirms Montserrat’s position as a trustworthy and compliant jurisdiction, reinforcing confidence among international stakeholders, partners and investors.
“Based on these commendable results, Montserrat will not be placed on the FATF grey list or black list and will not be subject to increased monitoring,” it continued.
“However, the jurisdiction must work to address the deficiencies identified in the report; progress on which would be monitored by the CFATF.”
It added that Montserrat is committed to ongoing improvement, refining its frameworks and policies to ensure continued alignment with international standards.
Read the 223-page report in full here.
Ongoing evaluations
The CFATF is an organisation of 24 states of the Caribbean, Central and South America, which have agreed to implement common countermeasures to address financial crimes.
It was established as a result of meetings convened in Aruba in May 1990 and Jamaica in November 1992.
The CFATF carried out its third assessment on Montserrat in 2010, and published the resultant report in July 2011.
It presented numerous follow-up reports at its plenary meetings, which provided an analysis of the island’s progress to correct deficiencies.
In February 2024, the government published the Montserrat’s first national money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment.
The comprehensive 140-page National Risk Assessment 2023 details the island’s risks to certain monetary crimes, along with its policies and mitigation strategies.
This must be the worst return on investment in the world. All those resources deployed and funded to combat a non-existent problem. It would be good to see at least a quarter of those resources used to actually develop an international finance sector in Montserrat. Can someone tell us how many offshore banks and how many international business companies are registered in Montserrat and roughly how much money is generated through offshore financial business?