Recording: The FATF Standards and Unintended Consequences: Part 3: Looking to the Future

How far has the standard setter come and where is it heading? As the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) considers ways to mitigate the unintended consequences of its financial crime standards, this three-part webinar series will assess the FATF’s work on this issue to-date, consider current challenges and look ahead to future ways in which its standards might be manipulated.

Background

In early 2021, the FATF announced it would be launching a new research initiative ‘to study and mitigate the unintended consequences resulting from the incorrect implementation of FATF Standards’. It identified four main affected areas: (1) de-risking; (2) financial exclusion; (3) suppression of non-profit organisations or the non-profit sector as a whole; and (4) threats to fundamental human rights.

The third and final webinar in this series addresses the forward trajectory of abuse of the FATF standards and what can be done to stem the tide. Throughout the world, the faulty application of AML/CTF laws and regulations has facilitated the restriction of civic space to meet politically motivated ends. Such threats to fundamental human rights constitute an emerging and worrying trend in the counter-illicit finance space and deserve immediate attention.

The discussion is chaired by CFCS Research Fellow Stephen Reimer

Panellists include:

• Anietie Ewang – Human Rights Watch
• Michael O’Kane – Peters & Peters
• Alyssa Yamamoto – Mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism
• Nicholas Opiyo - Executive Director and Lead Attorney, Chapter Four Uganda