ºÚÁÏÉçÇø

ºÚÁÏÉçÇø was granted full membership of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) at its plenary meeting in Orlando, US, earlier this month.
The FATF is an intergovernmental body established in 1989 by the ministers of its member jurisdictions. Its objectives are to set standards, and promote effective implementation, of legal, regulatory and operational measures to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
In this regard, the FATF is a policy-making body, which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas. The task force has developed a series of recommendations that are internationally recognized as the standard in this field.
The decision to grant the Kingdom full membership of the group was based on reports on ºÚÁÏÉçÇø’s tangible progress in implementing the action plan approved by the FATF.
That progress includes the Kingdom’s status as a founding member of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force, established in November 2004, and its position as an observer with the FATF since 2015. The invitation also recognizes the Kingdom’s international and regional status, its compliance with international standards, and its commitment to all relevant international and bilateral conventions.
In June 2018, the Kingdom completed the mutual evaluation process, which illustrated the effectiveness of the control measures carried out by the relevant authorities in the Kingdom in combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
It is expected that the Kingdom’s membership in the FATF will help safeguard the national economy from dirty money and suspicious financial transactions. In turn, that will help ensure the integrity of the financial and banking sectors in the Kingdom. It is also a boost to the Kingdom’s international standing.
I believe that becoming a full member of the FATF ranks among ºÚÁÏÉçÇø’s greatest achievements in the fields of finance and banking. It will enhance the Kingdom’s financial environment, helping to prevent financial crime, and making it better able to combat money laundering and terror financing.
Talat Zaki Hafiz is an economist and financial analyst.