CARICOM DERISKING MEETING AND CARIBBEAN FINANCIAL ACTION TASK FORCE PLENARY MEETING

The Minister attended a roundtable meeting on expanding financial services in the Caribbean and the impact of "de-risking" on these services. The meeting was hosted by Rep. Maxine Waters (member of the United States Congress, and Chair of the Financial Services Committee) in Washington, DC on 19th November, 2019, and included representatives from the US House of Representatives, financial services institutions, and CARICOM nations (including Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Jamaica, St. Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago). The Committee felt that many CARICOM nations had taken significant steps to add improvements to their due diligence and transparency frameworks, despite the "perception" that the issue of de-risking remained a problem with governmental bodies and banking institutions. Follow-up discussions were agreed for 2020. The Minister also travelled to St. John's, Antigua to attend the 50th Plenary of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) on 24th - 29th November, 2019, leading a Bermuda delegation in their defense of Bermuda's draft Mutual Evaluation Report (MER), which was debated at the Plenary. The delegation included Government officials and representatives from member agencies and authorities of the National Anti-Money Laundering Committee (NAMLC), a Unit within the portfolio responsibility of the Minister of Finance. The Mutual Evaluation Report was prepared on the basis of the FATF methodology for assessment, and which set out the level of effectiveness of Bermuda's AML/CFT system and level of compliance with FATF recommendations.