Regional meeting to review Montserrat’s anti-money laundering efforts

A delegation from Montserrat is attending the 59th Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) plenary and working meetings in Jamaica this week.

During the event, taking place from from 1 to 6 December, the task force will present and discuss the island’s fourth round Mutual Evaluation Report before its 24 member countries.

The document gives a summary of the anti-money laundering and terrorist financing measures that Montserrat has in place, along with recommendations on how the government can strengthen the system.

Once adopted by the plenary, the report will be finalised and published by the first quarter of 2025.

The Montserrat delegation attending the plenary includes:

• Head of delegation – Attorney General Sheree Jemmotte-Rodney, chair of the National Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Committee (NAMLAC)
• Fabian Singh, commissioner of the Financial Services Commission
• Michelle Webster, head of the Governor’s Office
• Oris Sullivan, director of public prosecution
• Peter White, director general of Customs and Revenue Services
• Deron Boyce, national risk mitigation officer
• Jessica Sweeney, transition lead in the Financial Intelligence Unit
• Donilia Cuffy, deputy commissioner in the Financial Services Commission
• Dulcie James, policy advisor in the Ministry of Finance
• Phil Hickson, policy advisor in the Governor’s Office

The CFATF is an organisation of 24 states of the Caribbean, Central and South America, which have agreed to implement common countermeasures to address money laundering.

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 has since presented numerous follow-up reports at its plenary meetings, which provide an analysis of the island’s progress to correct deficiencies.

In February, the government published the island’s first national money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment.

The comprehensive 140-page National Risk Assessment 2023 details Montserrat’s risks to certain monetary crimes, along with its policies and mitigation strategies.

A team from the CFATF was then in Montserrat from April to investigate the island’s financial system and gather information for the Mutual Evaluation Report.

It assessed whether the island complies with the international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a government press release said on 29 November.