If you work in compliance, risk, or any role connected to financial integrity, you’ve definitely heard about the FATF 40 Recommendations. But the truth is, many professionals have never actually read all 40 from start to end, as when you see 152 pages, you feel it’s too long, and the number alone makes people think the document is heavy or extremely technical.
But once you break them down, you realize most of these recommendations describe principles that regulated companies already follow, sometimes without even realizing it. They’re the invisible rules behind every KYC check, every suspicious transaction report, and every anti-money laundering policy your company has in place.
In this article, we’ll unpack all 40 Recommendations in simple language, one by one, and show you how they apply in real life.
What Are the FATF Recommendations?
They are recognized worldwide as the standard for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, supported by more than 180 countries. They are organized into four high-level pillars.
The first pillar addresses preventative measures. It explains how banks and other businesses operating in the financial sector, including fintechs and crypto platforms, should work to identify and mitigate the risks posed by financial crime before harm arises.
The second pillar deals with transparency and beneficial ownership, ensuring that the true individuals behind legal persons, such as companies and trusts, do not benefit from multiple layers of obscurity.
The third pillar provides the authorities, including regulators, law enforcement, and Financial Intelligence Units (FIU), with a framework to identify, investigate, and successfully prosecute financial crime.
The fourth and final pillar, international cooperation, outlines the principles agreed upon globally by countries for cooperation and intelligence sharing to pursue criminals and combat money laundering and terrorist financing globally.
Now, let us break them one after another:
A. AML/CFT POLICIES AND COORDINATION
(Recommendations 1 and 2)
1. Assessing Risks and Applying a Risk-Based Approach
Not all risks are the same, so you cannot treat everyone the same. This is considered the starting point of modern compliance with the risk-based approach (RBA). This idea changed the entire compliance world. The RBA tells us to understand the risks first, then assign our resources where they matter most.
2. National Cooperation and Coordination
Each country must identify and understand its own risks, including money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing.
But what is proliferation financing?
It is the risk specifically about breaches or evasion of targeted sanctions related to weapons of mass destruction.
Once a country understands its risks, it must build national AML/CFT/CPF policies based on that assessment.
In the fourth pillar of this article, we will examine how the FATF emphasizes coordination among regulators, FIUs, law enforcement, supervisors, policy-makers, and even data-protection authorities.
This cooperation ensures two things:
- AML/CFT requirements do not conflict with privacy and data-protection laws, and
- All agencies share information and move in the same direction.
B. MONEY LAUNDERING and CONFISCATION
(Recommendations 3 and 4)
If a crime produces money, that money must be criminalised, frozen, traced, and ultimately taken away. Countries should not only treat money laundering as a serious criminal offence but also give authorities the full power to chase criminal assets.
3. Money Laundering Offence
Modern money laundering laws are built on two major international agreements that helped shape today’s anti-money laundering rules.
- The Vienna Convention deals mainly with drug trafficking.
- The Palermo Convention expands this beyond drugs and targets all types of organized crime, such as human trafficking, corruption, and smuggling.
If the activity is illegal, then the profits from that activity must also be illegal.
Criminals constantly evolve. They move funds through shell companies, luxury assets, crypto wallets, money mules, trade transactions, and cross-border networks. FATF wants to close every possible gap by ensuring that money laundering laws apply to all profits of all serious crimes.
4. Confiscation and Provisional Measures
If Recommendation 3 criminalises money laundering, Recommendation 4 answers the next question:
How do we stop criminals from using or hiding their illegal wealth?
FATF requires countries to build strong systems that allow authorities to identify, freeze, seize, manage, and confiscate assets linked to crime. These tools must work domestically and internationally and must not depend solely on a criminal conviction.
Let’s break down the requirements in simple terms.
a) Authorities must be able to follow the trail (bank accounts, crypto wallets, real estate, gold, luxury cars, artwork, offshore companies, and anything else of value). If it was earned from criminal activities or is connected to crime, the country must have the legal power to find it.
b) Authorities and financial institutions must be able to stop a suspicious transaction before it’s completed.
c) The country must give investigators strong legal powers, access to financial records, searches, subpoenas, surveillance authorities, and digital-forensic tools.
d) FATF requires countries to give authorities the power to freeze or seize assets immediately, even before formal charges, to stop the money from disappearing. This ensures the funds stay locked while the investigation continues.
e) Once a court convicts someone of money laundering or a predicate offence, the state must be able to confiscate assets linked to the crime.
f) Non-Conviction Based Confiscation (NCB Confiscation): This is one of the most powerful FATF tools. It allows confiscation even when:
- criminal flees the country
- criminal dies
- the suspect cannot be identified
- intimidation prevents prosecution
- evidence proves the assets are criminal, but there is no formal conviction.
g) Enforcing confiscation orders, even across borders.
h) Freezing is only half the job. Countries must also preserve the value of seized assets,
C. TERRORIST FINANCING AND FINANCING OF PROLIFERATION
(Recommendations 5, 6, 7 and 8)
FATF expects countries to address both the source of funds and the way the funds move.
5. Terrorist Financing Offence
You don’t need a bomb, a plan, or an attack to occur. If the money is intended for terrorism in any way, it is a crime.
Terrorist financing must be criminalised in every country, not just when it funds a specific terrorist attack, but even when funds support:
a) a terrorist organisation,
b) an individual terrorist, or
c) someone preparing to engage in terrorism.
For example, a London resident was arrested for sending small cryptocurrency transfers to individuals aligned with ISIS. No attack occurred, no materials were purchased, and no operational plan was found. But the transfers qualified as terrorist financing because they supported individuals known for extremist activity.
This is exactly how FATF expects the rule to work:
funds + intent = crime, (even if no violence occurs).
6. Targeted Financial Sanctions Related to Terrorism and Terrorist Financing
Countries must put into place targeted financial sanctions in full compliance with UN Security Council resolutions on terrorism and terrorist financing, in particular UNSCR 1267 and UNSCR 1373.
These two resolutions obligate relevant authorities and financial institutions to freeze, immediately and without delay, any funds or other assets owned or controlled by individuals or entities that have been designated as terrorists or as terrorist organisations, so that the sanctioned individuals or entities cannot move, use or otherwise benefit from any funds or assets by any means or in any manner.
UNSCR 1267 and 1373 also prohibit any person or institution, whether knowingly or unknowingly, from providing any funds, financial services or assets, directly or indirectly, to individuals or entities identified on the sanctions lists.
7. Targeted Financial Sanctions Related to Proliferation
FATF requires countries to enforce UN resolutions that prohibit financing or supporting nuclear weapons programs, chemical or biological weapons, or any person or entity connected to these activities.
Countries must ensure:
a) funds linked to sanctioned persons or entities are frozen without delay,
b) no financial or commercial support reaches them, and
c) businesses monitor supply chains to avoid indirectly supporting proliferation programs.
For example, North Korea often uses shell companies in Hong Kong, the UAE, Malaysia, and Europe to purchase dual-use goods (items that can be used for civilian or military purposes).
8. Protecting Non-Profit Organisations
Non-profit organisations (NPOs) are essential for humanitarian work, education, and social support. But their global reach also makes them vulnerable to abuse by terrorist groups. FATF requires countries to:
a) Identify which organisations fall under the FATF definition of NPOs.
b) Assess their risk of terrorist financing abuse.
c) Apply proportionate, risk-based measures to protect them.
D. PREVENTIVE MEASURES
(Recommendation 9)
9. Financial Institution Secrecy Laws
Bank secrecy laws must never be used to block AML/CFT measures.
10. Customer Due Diligence (CDD)
CDD is the backbone of KYC, risk assessment, onboarding, and ongoing monitoring. Whenever a financial institution deals with a customer, it must understand who they are, why they are doing business, and whether their activity is in line with all applicable regulations, so that it can classify the customer and the level of risk they present.
FATF requires CDD to be applied in four main situations:
a) When establishing a new business relationship
b) When conducting occasional transactions above USD/EUR 15,000, or certain value transfers covered under Recommendation 16
c) When there is suspicion of money laundering or terrorist financing
d) When previous customer information looks incomplete, outdated, or inconsistent
As discussed in recommendation 1 about the importance of RBA, one question always comes to mind:
How can I know the risk of the customer if I have never met him?
Here is why the FATF mandates the importance of CDD. Based on the customer and their type of risk, you can apply simplified CDD for very low-risk customers and enhanced measures for high-risk profiles.
But keep in mind that if you cannot complete a CDD, you must not onboard the customer, not process the transaction, and may need to file a suspicious transaction report.
This requirement applies to new and existing customers, meaning banks and fintechs must refresh and review old files based on risk, as the customer risk may change over time.
11. Record-Keeping
FATF mandates that financial institutions must maintain all necessary records on transactions, both domestic and international, for a minimum of five years to enable them to comply swiftly with information requests from competent authorities. This includes:
a) Transaction data (amounts, currencies, counterparties)
b) Copies of identification documents
c) Account files
d) Business correspondence
e) Any internal analysis, such as investigations into unusual or complex transactions
ADDITIONAL MEASURES FOR SPECIFIC CUSTOMERS AND ACTIVITIES
(Recommendation 12,13,14,15 and 16)
12. Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs)
PEPs always carry a higher risk due to their influence and exposure to corruption. FATF divides PEPs into three groups:
- Foreign PEPs
- Domestic PEPs
- International organization PEPs
For foreign PEPs, enhanced due diligence is mandatory.
This means financial institutions must:
a) have appropriate risk-management systems to determine whether the customer or the beneficial owner is a politically exposed person;
b) obtain senior management approval for establishing (or continuing, for existing customers) such business relationships;
c) take reasonable measures to establish the source of wealth and source of funds; and
d) conduct enhanced ongoing monitoring of the business relationship.
For domestic PEPs and international organization PEPs, the same measures are applied only when the risk is higher than normal.
13. Correspondent Banking
Correspondent banking is one of the most vulnerable areas for global money laundering. It involves one bank providing services to another bank across borders.
Banks must:
a) Gather all sufficient information about the respondent bank to understand its business model, ownership, reputation, and the quality of supervision in its home country
b) Assess the respondent bank’s AML/CFT controls
c) Obtain senior management approval before entering a correspondent relationship
d) Clearly document responsibilities between the two banks
e) For “payable-through accounts,” ensure the respondent bank has conducted proper CDD on customers and can supply this information on request.
“Payable-through accounts” means that:
If a bank allows another bank’s customers to use its accounts, it must ensure that the other bank has properly verified those customers (performed full CDD/KYC) and can provide that information immediately upon request.
FATF strictly prohibits correspondent relationships with shell banks, and banks must ensure their partners do not give access to shell banks either.
14. Money or Value Transfer Services (MVTS)
MVTS providers (including traditional remittance companies and many crypto platforms) are often targeted by criminals because funds move quickly and across borders.
FATF requires countries to:
a) License or register all MVTS providers;
b) Monitor them effectively for AML/CFT compliance;
c) Identify unlicensed operators and penalize them;
d) Ensure agents are also registered or monitored;
e) Require MVTS providers to apply full AML/CFT measures to their agents.
In this context, agents are the third-party or individuals that deliver MVTS services to the public, and FATF wants them to be regulated just like the main company.
15. New Technologies
Digital banking, fintech, DeFi, blockchain, and AI create new risks, and the FATF has developed new methods, require two key things:
- Risk assessments must happen before the development of new products and new business practices
- Financial institutions must implement measures to manage and mitigate the use of new or developing technologies for both new and pre-existing products
16. Payment Transparency
Payment transparency ensures that the identities of the sender and recipient accompany the funds. This helps trace transactions involved in money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, or sanctions evasion.
Countries must also ensure that financial institutions comply with UN sanctions obligations and freeze the assets of designated individuals or entities involved in terrorism or proliferation financing.
The same principle applies in the crypto world through the Travel Rule, which now requires VASPs to share sender and receiver information for blockchain transfers.
RELIANCE, CONTROLS AND FINANCIAL GROUPS
(Recommendations 17, 18 and 19)
17. Reliance on Third Parties
FATF stated that financial institutions can rely on third parties to perform parts of the compliance process, but the ultimate responsibility always stays with the financial institution.
Meaning, you can rely on a third party, but if any breach or error occurs, you remain accountable.
The key points for reliance are:
a) The institution must get all necessary customer information (identity, beneficial owner, purpose of business) right away.
b) The institution must be confident that copies of ID documents and other records can be provided by the third party without delay.
c) The third party must be regulated and follow proper CDD and record-keeping procedures.
d) When choosing a third party abroad, the institution should consider the risk level of the country they operate in.
18. Internal Controls and Foreign Branches and Subsidiaries
FATF requires every financial institution to have strong internal policies, procedures, and controls to detect and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.
For group-wide programs where a financial institution has multiple entities, they can share information internally for AML/CFT purposes. Foreign branches and majority-owned subsidiaries must apply AML/CFT measures that are consistent with the home country’s requirements. The compliance standards of the parent company travel with the branch or subsidiary, ensuring global consistency.
For example, if a UAE-based bank operates a branch in Singapore, that branch must still follow the UAE bank’s AML/CFT policies, such as enhanced screening, transaction monitoring rules, and record-keeping standards, even if Singapore’s local rules are different.
19. Higher-Risk Countries
Some countries are considered higher risk for money laundering or terrorist financing, and FATF expects financial institutions to apply enhanced due diligence when dealing with customers, transactions, or counterparties from these jurisdictions.
FATF allows countries to implement countermeasures against higher-risk jurisdictions.
REPORTING OF SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTIONS
(Recommendations 20 and 21)
20. Reporting of Suspicious Transactions
If a financial institution suspects or has reasonable grounds to suspect that funds are the proceeds of a criminal activity, or are related to terrorist financing, it should be required, by law, to promptly report its suspicions to the financial intelligence unit (FIU).
21. Tipping-Off and Confidentiality
FATF here wants to ensure all employees who file a suspicious transaction report (STR) that they are protected by law from any liability, even if the suspected criminal activity turns out to be nothing. At the same time, the institution must not disclose to the customer or any third party that a STR has been filed.
DESIGNATED NON-FINANCIAL BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS
(Recommendations 22 and 23)
When FATF first created global AML standards, most criminals were using banks. But as banks became stronger and more regulated, criminals adapted quickly, they changed their strategy and started moving their money through industries that seemed unregulated.
These sectors were never designed to combat financial crime, but they eventually became some of the most attractive entry points for money laundering.
22. DNFBPs: Customer Due Diligence
FATF is describing which non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs) must follow AML rules. The following businesses must apply AML checks when they handle certain transactions:
a) Casinos — when customers conduct transactions above the legal threshold.
b) Real estate agents — when they help clients buy or sell property.
c) Dealers in precious metals or stones — when they conduct high-value cash transactions above the set threshold.
d) Lawyers, notaries, other independent legal professionals and accountants— when they handle financial or corporate activities for clients, such as:
- buying and selling of real estate;
- managing of client money, securities or other assets;
- management of bank, savings or securities accounts;
- organisation of contributions for the creation, operation or management of
- companies;
- creation, operation or management of legal persons or arrangements, and buying and selling of business entities.
e) Trust and company service providers — when they form companies, provide registered office addresses, act as directors, trustees, or nominee shareholders.
23. DNFBPs: Other Measures
According to FATF, these professionals are required to report any suspicious transactions, including but not limited to unusual cash transactions, the formation of companies, and the handling of trusts, which may allow law enforcement to detect illicit activity prior to that activity becoming more widespread. As a result, DNFBPs provide an additional layer of protection in the battle against financial criminality.
E. TRANSPARENCY AND BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF LEGAL PERSONS AND ARRANGEMENTS
(Recommendations 24 and 25)
Criminals shifted their strategies when banks started tightening AML controls. They started to hide behind companies, trusts, nominees, and multi-layered structures designed to confuse anyone trying to trace the money. They used the strategy of:
If you can’t identify the person behind the entity, you can’t fight money laundering.
That’s where FATF’s Recommendations 24 and 25 come in.
24. Transparency and Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons
A company can be the perfect disguise.
One document, one signature and suddenly someone can move millions without ever showing their face. FATF wants to ensure the mask no longer works.
Countries must ensure that:
a) Beneficial ownership information is accessible and reliable;
b) Bearer shares are eliminated;
c) Nominee directors and shareholders are regulated;
d) Financial institutions and DNFBPs must be able to verify beneficial ownership during CDD.
25. Transparency and Beneficial Ownership of Legal Arrangements
Trusts and other legal arrangements are well-known tools for money laundering and terrorist financing, but FATF requires countries to stay one step ahead.
For example, a wealthy individual sets up a trust to hold luxury real estate and company shares. FATF standards require that the country’s authorities know exactly who the settlor (the person creating the trust), the trustees (the people managing it), and the beneficiaries are. When the bank is asked to open an account for that trust, it must quickly verify this ownership information before accepting the client.
F. POWERS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF COMPETENT AUTHORITIES, AND OTHER INSTITUTIONAL MEASURES
(Recommendations 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31and 32)
In the next recommendations, FATF shifts focus to the real question:
Who ensures everyone actually complies?
26. Regulation and Supervision of Financial Institutions
FATF stated that “Competent authorities or financial supervisors should take the necessary legal or regulatory measures to prevent criminals or their associates from holding, or being the beneficial owner of, a significant or controlling interest, or holding a management function in, a financial institution.”
Means, financial institutions must be properly licensed, monitored, and held accountable.
FATF also stated that “Countries should not approve the establishment, or continued operation, of shell bank.”
27. Powers of Supervisors
FATF explained in this recommendation that a regulator without authority is just an observer.
FATF wants supervisors to have adequate powers to:
a) inspect;
b) demand documents;
c) impose penalties;
d) restrict operations;
e) suspend or revoke licenses.
28. Regulation and Supervision of DNFBPs
FATF has repeatedly highlighted in several recommendations that casinos, lawyers, accountants, real estate agents, and trust service providers must be properly regulated and supervised.
FATF underscores, under this recommendation, that casinos should be subject to a comprehensive regulatory and supervisory regime that ensures they have effectively implemented the necessary AML/CFT measures.
For other DNFBPs, countries must establish effective monitoring systems to ensure that key individuals are “fit and proper” and that there are strong, proportionate sanctions if AML/CFT obligations are not met.
OPERATIONAL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT
29. Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs)
The FIU is the core center of the entire AML system.
It receives STRs, analyzes financial data, and shares intelligence with law enforcement.
FATF requires that FIUs have access to:
a) administrative data
b) financial information
c) law enforcement records
With these tools, the FIU becomes the national decision-maker on financial crime intelligence.
30. Responsibilities of Law Enforcement
This recommendation discusses that if money laundering is global, all investigations must be too.
Countries should ensure that designated law enforcement authorities have responsibility for money laundering and terrorist financing investigations within the framework of national AML/CFT policies.
This includes:
a) pro-active parallel financial investigations;
b) tracing foreign predicate offences;
c) identifying, tracing and initiating actions to freeze and seize criminal property and property of corresponding value;
d) forming multi-disciplinary groups specialised in financial or asset investigations;
e) cooperating internationally.
31. Powers of Law Enforcement and Investigative Authorities
In this recommendation, FATF underscores the importance of the availability and timely access of all the documentation and information held by financial institutions, DNFBPs and other natural or legal persons.
Countries shall use this data in the investigation and ensure that competent authorities conducting investigations are able to use a wide range of investigative techniques suitable for the investigation of money laundering, associated predicate offences and terrorist financing.
32. Cash Couriers
AML/CFT efforts must extend beyond digital or banking channels to include the risks associated with bulk cash smuggling. To address this, FATF requires countries to:
a) Detect and monitor cross-border cash movements;
b) Empower authorities to stop, restrain, and seize suspicious cash shipments;
c) Impose penalties for false declarations or non-disclosure to anyone who hides, under-reports, or lies about cash when crossing a border;
d) Confiscate cash linked to money laundering, terrorist financing, or related predicate offences.
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
(Recommendations 33 and 34)
33. Statistics
Countries must keep track of how well their AML/CFT systems are working. This includes stats on suspicious transaction reports (STRs), investigations, prosecutions, convictions, frozen or seized assets, and international cooperation. Keeping these numbers helps authorities spot gaps, measure effectiveness, and improve their strategies.
34. Guidance and Feedback
This recommendation emphasizes the importance of authorities to help in guiding and providing feedback to financial institutions and DNFBPs on spotting and reporting suspicious activity, to improve their AML/CFT practices.
SANCTIONS
(Recommendation 35)
35. Sanctions
If rules are broken, there must be consequences. Countries must have a range of effective, proportionate, and dissuasive sanctions for institutions, professionals, and even senior management. These can be criminal, civil, or administrative penalties.
G. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
(Recommendations 36, 37, 38, 39 and 40)
36. International Instruments
FATF stated that “Countries should take immediate steps to become party to and implement fully the Vienna Convention, 1988; the Palermo Convention, 2000; the United Nations Convention against Corruption, 2003; and the Terrorist Financing Convention, 1999.”
In short terms, FATF highlights the need for countries to adopt and implement key international conventions related to money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. By becoming parties to these instruments, countries strengthen global cooperation and close cross-border loopholes.
37. Mutual Legal Assistance
When one country needs help investigating or prosecuting money laundering, terrorist financing, or related crimes, mutual legal assistance must be rapid.
Key requirements include:
a) Countries should not refuse MLA or impose unreasonable conditions that hinder cooperation.
b) Requests must be handled through a streamlined system. FATF stated “central authority, or another established official mechanism, for effective transmission and execution of requests.”
c) Requests cannot be rejected simply because the case involves tax or fiscal matters.
d) Bank secrecy or confidentiality rules cannot be used to block assistance, except where legal professional privilege or legal professional secrecy applies.
e) Countries must protect the confidentiality of MLA requests to protect the integrity of the investigations.
f) It also stated the importance of countries to provide mutual legal assistance even when dual criminality is absent, as long as the request does not involve coercive actions.
For example, if Country A is investigating insider trading, but Country B does not criminalise insider trading, Country B must still share relevant documents as long as no coercive powers are needed.
g) To support this principle, countries are encouraged to update their legal frameworks so they can offer a broad scope of assistance even when dual criminality is not met.
Dual criminality is considered satisfied as long as both countries criminalise the same behaviour, even if they use different names or classify the offence differently.
h) Countries must make available the same investigative tools used domestically for MLA requests. This ensures that cross-border investigations can rely on the same level of access and tools that are available in domestic cases.
i) To prevent conflicts of jurisdiction, countries should establish mechanisms to determine the most appropriate location for prosecution when multiple jurisdictions have an interest in the same case. This helps avoid duplicated efforts, conflicting outcomes, and unnecessary delays, ensuring that cases are handled in the venue best suited to deliver justice.
j) When sending MLA requests, countries must provide accurate factual and legal information so that the requested country can process the request efficiently.
k) Authorities responsible for MLA must be adequately resourced with skilled staff, proper funding, and the necessary technical tools to perform their duties effectively.
38. Mutual Legal Assistance: Freezing And Confiscation
International cooperation also includes freezing, seizing, and confiscating criminal property.
For example, if Country A identifies funds in a bank in Country B that were stolen through a cross-border fraud scheme, Country A can request Country B to freeze and confiscate the funds. Country B can then enforce the order, manage the frozen assets, and return the recovered money to Country A.
39. Extradition
Extradition is when one country hands over a person to another country so they can face legal proceedings or punishment for crimes.
FATF recommends that “countries should efficiently execute extradition requests related to money laundering and terrorist financing without undue delay.”
To achieve this, countries should:
a) Make money laundering and terrorist financing extraditable offences.
b) Maintain clear, efficient processes for handling requests, including prioritization and progress tracking through a case management system.
c) Avoid imposing unreasonable or excessively restrictive conditions on extradition.
d) Ensure an adequate legal framework exists to support extradition procedures.
e) Countries are encouraged to adopt simplified extradition mechanisms where possible, such as:
- Direct transmission of provisional arrest requests between authorities;
- Extradition based solely on arrest warrants or judgments;
- Simplified procedures for individuals who consent and waive formal extradition proceedings.
Finally, authorities responsible for extradition must be adequately resourced, skilled, and uphold high standards of integrity and confidentiality.
40. Other Forms of International Cooperation
FATF recognizes that fighting financial crime requires more than extradition. Criminals shouldn’t find safe havens, and authorities shouldn’t face obstacles when pursuing cross-border investigations.
This includes:
a) Using all available legal channels to provide rapid, constructive assistance.
b) Negotiating bilateral or multilateral agreements (like MOUs) to ensure smooth cooperation.
c) Following clear processes for prioritizing requests, executing them efficiently, and safeguarding shared information.
Conclusion
If you’ve read this far, you’ll see that the FATF Recommendations are far more than technical or compliance rules against money laundering and terrorist financing. They show how every piece of the system matters, from due diligence and supervision to international cooperation and asset recovery. By following them, nations not only protect their own economies but also contribute to a safer, more transparent global financial ecosystem.
