FATF Summary of Outcomes from the Experts’ Meeting on Corruption

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group (ACWG) held a joint Experts’ Meeting on Corruption on Saturday, 18 October 2014.  In this meeting, 163 delegates from 28 jurisdictions and 19 organisations participated. This is the fourth time that the FATF and G20 ACWG have held such an event, which brings together anti-money laundering/counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) experts and anti-corruption experts to discuss issues of common interest.

The meeting was chaired by the FATF President, Mr. Roger Wilkins AO (Australia), at the OECD headquarters in Paris. The G20 ACWG Co-Chairs – Mr. Stefano Mogini (Italy) and Mr. Kieran Butler (Australia) (acting Co-Chair) – participated and reiterated the G20 support for FATF work to enhance transparency and combat corruption, and encouraged continued engagement on these issues.

The key objectives for this meeting were:

• to discuss the FATF’s draft Guidance on Transparency and Beneficial Ownership, and incorporate feedback from anti-corruption experts to enhance the paper, and
• to build on the previous discussions between the FATF and the G20 on anti-corruption issues, with a particular focus on measures to combat the misuse of corporate vehicles.

PREVENTING THE MISUSE OF CORPORATE VEHICLES

Corporate vehicles, such as companies and trusts, play an integral role in the global economy.
However, under certain conditions, they have been misused for criminal purposes including money
laundering and corruption.  Taking action to prevent the misuse of corporate vehicles is essential to
ensure the integrity of the international financial system, and support economic growth and
development.

The FATF has set international standards which require countries to implement measures to
ensure that accurate information on the beneficial ownership of legal persons and legal
arrangements is available to competent authorities in a timely fashion.

Summary of outcomes of the meeting: www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/Outcomes%20Corruption%20Expert%20Meeting%20Oct%202014.pdf