Grand Cayman, 5 May 2023 – Attorney General, the Hon. Samuel Bulgin, KC and Minister for Financial Services and Commerce, the Hon. André Ebanks, are leading a Cayman Islands Government delegation to Mexico to update the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) review group on the progress being made with Cayman’s money laundering investigations and prosecutions.

Cayman officials are meeting with the Americas Joint Group (Joint Group), a sub-working group of the FATF’s International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG), on 3-5 May regarding the FATF’s final recommended action for the Cayman Islands. https://www.mfs.ky/news/fatf-notes-the-cayman-islands-continuous-progress/

The discussions are part of the process for being removed from the list of jurisdictions monitored by the FATF for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML) deficiencies. The FATF sets the global AML regulatory standard.

Through the ICRG, the Joint Group will report its findings from the review process to the FATF, for decision during the FATF Plenary in June. At the end of the plenary, the FATF will make a public statement on the status of jurisdictions on its monitoring list – whether the jurisdiction is to remain, or to be removed. If the jurisdiction is to be removed, it normally happens at the following plenary, which in this case will be October 2023.

At the conclusion of the Mexico meeting, Minister Ebanks will travel to London https://www.gov.ky/news/press-release-details/he-and-premier-in-uk-for-major-events to take part in several events, including a stakeholder meeting with Cayman Finance and the Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council plenary sessions, during the week of 10 May.

Afterwards, Minister Ebanks will engage in stakeholder meetings in Hong Kong before joining officials from the Cayman Islands Intellectual Property Office in Singapore for the International Trade mark Association Annual Meeting the week of 16 May.