Minister of Finance Anas Al-Saleh said here on Saturday the State of Kuwait has fulfilled its earlier undertakings to promote the mechanisms of fighting money laundering and terrorist financing, citing a recent international report in this regard.
The minister said in a statement that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is charged with fighting money laundering and terrorist financing, had recently issued a report confirming Kuwait's fulfillment of 2012 commitments against money laundering and financing of terrorism.
"It is deemed a significant achievement that reflects the international community's reassurance about the availability of an integrated legislative atmosphere for fighting money laundering and financing of terrorism primarily based on Law 106/2013 on money laundering and terrorist finance," he noted.
Kuwait was in the forefront of the region's countries which applied international criteria for combatting money laundering, terrorist finance and proliferation of weapons, which were adopted by the FATF in 2012, he boasted.
The minister voiced satisfaction with this achievement which he said came in line with the directives of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for creating a healthy investment atmosphere for transferring Kuwait into a financial hub.
During the second Plenary meeting under the Australian Presidency, the FATF issued a statement on FATF action on terrorist finance, and adopted a report on the financing of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The FATF recognized that Albania, Cambodia, Kuwait, Namibia, Nicaragua, Pakistan and Zimbabwe have made significant progress in improving their AML/CFT regime and will therefore no longer be subject to the FATF's monitoring process.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 by the Ministers of its Member jurisdictions. The objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system. The FATF is therefore a "policy-making body" which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas.
The FATF has developed a series of recommendations that are recognized as the international standard for combating of money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. They form the basis for a coordinated response to these threats to the integrity of the financial system and help ensure a level playing field. First issued in 1990, the FATF Recommendations were revised in 1996, 2001, 2003 and most recently in 2012 to ensure that they remain up to date and relevant, and they are intended to be of universal application.
The FATF monitors the progress of its members in implementing necessary measures, reviews money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and counter-measures, and promotes the adoption and implementation of appropriate measures globally. In collaboration with other international stakeholders, the FATF works to identify national-level vulnerabilities with the aim of protecting the international financial system from misuse.
Source: KUNA