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US Secures FATF Corporate Transparency Upgrade

The Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental group that sets global standards against illicit finance, updated the U.S. government’s rating for “transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons” from “non-compliant” to “largely compliant” Tuesday.

In a follow-up to the rating FATF originally issued in October 2016, the group concluded that efforts by the U.S. to establish a national registry of beneficial ownership information as mandated by Congress via the Corporate Transparency Act of January 2021 merited a higher rating.

The upgrade “is a result of nearly a decade of hard work by the Treasury Department, along with our interagency partners, to stop the flow of dirty money through anonymous companies,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement Tuesday.

FATF noted that “minor shortcomings” in U.S. corporate transparency remain because the federal government still does not require all legal entities to disclose their beneficial owners, and only requires banks to update the know-your-customer records of their corporate clients based on changes in the level of risk they pose, instead of periodically as the group recommends.

As a result of Tuesday’s upgrade, the U.S. now rates “compliant” with nine of FATF’s 40 technical standards against financial crime, “largely compliant” with 23 standards and “partially compliant” with five. FATF still rates the U.S. “non-compliant” with three of the group’s technical standards.

Moneylaundering.com may update this coverage as more information becomes available.
Topics : Anti-money laundering , Know Your Customer
Source: FATF , U.S.: Department of Treasury , U.S.: FinCEN
Document Date: March 26, 2024