BARBADOS-Barbados working towards removal from FATF grey list

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The chairman of the Anti-Money Laundering Network, Reginald Farley, says Barbados is vigorously continuing its anti-money laundering work to keep off the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Grey List.

“We are into round five of the FATF program. The next mutual evaluation for Barbados is already scheduled for June 2027. We have recently chosen the two weeks that will be done in June, and we have communicated that to the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force,” Farley told a regional conference of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority, which ends here on Friday.

“We, therefore, are working now towards a three-year plan to ensure that in 2027, when the Barbados mutual evaluation is conducted, we can get the result that says – progress on all fronts; recommendations – all compliant; effectiveness – all compliant; and that we will be fine,” he added.

The meeting is being attended by professionals in the Anti-Money Laundering compliance fields for Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs).

Barbados was removed from the FATF’s Grey List on February 23 this year after successfully implementing its Action Plan, and Senator Farley said the island has continued to work diligently to do what is necessary.

“We do not plan to do anything or fail to do anything that will cause us to go back into the situation of being a jurisdiction under enhanced monitoring. We don’t want to go on any grey list, blocklist, or list.

“We don’t want anyone to call our name, so much so that we will make sure that we do everything right because we’ve felt the pain; we know what was required to get us off those lists, and we do not plan to go back there,” he told the conference.

Farley spoke of a number of initiatives to be undertaken over the next three years, including conducting several outreach sessions for stakeholders to introduce any changes to the FATF standards and the procedures for the fifth-round mutual evaluation.

He thanked all stakeholders for their involvement in removing Barbados from the list. He added that the island is fortunate to have such a “dedicated, talented group of professionals” working on its behalf.