FATF Plenary elects its next President

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the inter-governmental body established in 1989 with the objectives of setting standards and promoting effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system, has elected its next president.

The FATF’s decision making body, the FATF Plenary, consisting of more than 800 delegates, representing the global network of 205 countries and jurisdictions, as well as international organisations, took place on 19 -21 February 2020 in Paris, where it discussed strategic priorities, country specific processes and other strategic initiatives.

During the Plenary Dr Marcus Pleyer (Germany) was selected to be the next FATF President, replacing the outgoing FATF president Xiangmin Liu (China). The FATF President is appointed by the FATF Plenary from among its members, to convene and chair the meetings of the FATF Plenary and the Steering Group, and oversee the FATF Secretariat. Dr Pleyer´s term will begin on 1 July 2020, and he will be the first FATF President with a two-year term. Dr Pleyer is currently the Vice-President of FATF and will continue in that role until the beginning of his term as President, at which point the FATF Plenary will appoint a new Vice-President.

Additional outcomes of the FATF Plenary also include an updated list of jurisdictions under increased FATF monitoring, including two European countries, Albania and Iceland. Regarding Albania, FATF comments recalled its high- level political commitment “to work with the FATF and MONEYVAL to strengthen the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime…,including by enhancing relevant authorities’ understanding of terrorist financing risks…” and in case of Iceland, FATF recommended to continue to “work on implementing its action plan to address its strategic deficiencies by (1) finalising the collection of accurate Beneficial Ownership information and demonstrating the imposition of appropriate sanctions for non-compliance; and (2) concluding work to introduce an automated system for STR filing.”

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