International Relations
Global Associations
The Egmont Group is a united body of 166 Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs). The Egmont Group provides a platform for the secure exchange of expertise and financial intelligence to combat money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF). This is especially relevant as FIUs are uniquely positioned to cooperate and support national and international efforts to counter terrorist financing and are the trusted gateway for sharing financial information domestically and internationally in accordance with global Anti Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) standards.
The Financial Intelligence Unit of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas (FIU) became the 54th member of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units during the Group’s June 2001 meeting, held in The Hague, Netherlands.
The FIU was an active participant in the Egmont “Outreach” Working Group and monitored and successfully sponsored the FIUs of the following countries for membership in the Egmont Group: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Belize, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Trinidad, Turks and Caicos Islands and St. Lucia.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog. The inter-governmental body sets international standards that aim to prevent these illegal activities and the harm they cause to society. As a policy-making body, the FATF works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas.
The FATF has developed the FATF Recommendations, or FATF Standards, which ensure a coordinated global response to prevent organised crime, corruption and terrorism. They help authorities go after the money of criminals dealing in illegal drugs, human trafficking and other crimes. The FATF also works to stop funding for weapons of mass destruction.
The FATF reviews money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and continuously strengthens its standards to address new risks, such as the regulation of virtual assets, which have spread as cryptocurrencies gain popularity. The FATF monitors countries to ensure they implement the FATF Standards fully and effectively, and holds countries to account that do not comply.
The Caribbean Financial Action Task Force is an organisation of twenty-five (25) countries of the Caribbean Basin, Central and South America, which have agreed to implement common countermeasures to address money laundering and terrorism financing. It was established as a result of meetings convened in Aruba in May 1990 and Jamaica in November 1992.
The Bahamas is an active member of CFATF. The Bahamas’ FIU participates in the Plenary, Typology and Heads of FIU Meetings of CFATF.
The CFATF’s goal is to develop and promote strategies in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing at national, regional and international levels.