https://citywireamericas.com/news/bahamas-taken-off-eu-money-laundering-blacklist/a2376849

The European Union (EU) has removed The Bahamas from its notorious blacklist of anti-money laundering (AML) jurisdictions.

The EU’s Attorney General Ryan Pinder noted that the Caribbean offshore fund and wealth management hub had addressed systemic deficiencies in its AML and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) mechanisms since its addition to the blacklist in May 2020.

‘The Bahamas engaged in diplomatic and technical meetings and consultation on an ongoing basis to address the blacklisting by the EU,’ said Pinder.

The country’s delisting will allow its financial institutions to operate more freely and without as much scrutiny from EU regulators, which require companies either receiving or sending funds and assets from blacklisted jurisdictions to review transactions more closely.

It follows a similar decision by the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which removed The Bahamas from its own list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring in mid-December 2020.

Criteria for the EU’s list is based on established guidelines within the FATF, an organization under the belt of the international G7 forum, which includes the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK.

At the time, the FATF had concluded that The Bahamas had taken significant steps in recent years to address failures in its AML and CTF measures and had followed a roadmap laid out by the global financial watchdog to combat the deficiencies.

The decision was lauded by local authorities in The Bahamas, including its Office of the Attorney General & Ministry of Legal Affairs, which released a statement saying: ‘The Bahamas will continue to work with the European Union and all international partners as we seek to maintain its AML/CFT/CFP regime on par with international agreed measures which safeguard the global financial system.’