About Financial Action Task Force (FATF):
- It is an inter-governmental policy-making and standard-setting body dedicated to combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
- Objective: To establish international standards and to develop and promote policies, both at national and international levels, to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
- Origin:
- It was established in 1989 during the G7 Summit in Paris to develop policies against money laundering.
- In 2001, its mandate was expanded to include terrorism financing.
- Headquarters: Paris, France.
- Its members include 39 countries, including the United States, India, China, Saudi Arabia, Britain, Germany, France and the EU as such.
- India became a member of FATF in 2010.
- What are FATF 'grey list' and 'blacklist'? FATF has 2 types of lists:
- Black List: Countries known as Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCTs) are put on the blacklist. These countries support terror funding and money laundering activities. The FATF revises the blacklist regularly, adding or deleting entries.
- Grey List: Countries that are considered a safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put on the FATF grey list. This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.
- Three countries North Korea, Iran and Myanmar are currently in FATF’s blacklist.
- Consequences of being on the FATF blacklist:
- No financial aid is given to them by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union (EU).
- They also face a number of international economic and financial restrictions and sanctions.
