Thought Leadership

FATF's trailblazing new asset recovery standards promise effectiveness

Author
Lo Furneaux
Marketing - Associate

For almost a decade, global estimates for asset recovery have painted a disheartening picture, revealing that merely 1% of criminal proceeds are successfully reclaimed, despite a resounding international chorus that “crime must not pay“.

There have been countless discussions and endless debates in the global asset recovery community about the need to enhance asset recovery standards and improve returns for victims and the wider society.

After the conclusion of their recent plenary at their headquarters in Paris, The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is initiating a groundbreaking new approach that will revamp the way we freeze, seize and manage seized assets on a global scale.

“Under the Singapore Presidency, the FATF has made it a priority to promote policies and actions that will ensure that asset recovery is a key pillar of every country’s approach to tackling money laundering and terrorist financing.”
“At this Plenary, Delegates welcomed these findings and agreed on major amendments to the FATF Recommendations that will provide countries with enhanced tools to more effectively freeze, seize, and confiscate criminal property, both domestically and through international cooperation.
The revised Recommendations require countries to have policies and operational frameworks that prioritise asset recovery and establish non-conviction-based confiscation regimes in their legal systems.”

These exciting developments promise to transform the sector, pushing nations that have historically underinvested in areas like fraud prevention and seized asset management to establish effective systems and processes; and will undoubtedly be welcomed by many.

Upon learning of this news, our co-founder and CEO Aidan Larkin shared his enthusiasm for being part of this industry-defining milestone on LinkedIn:

“It’s wonderful that non-conviction-based forfeiture is being formally recognised, meaning that countries must have something in place. We’re excited to play our part at Asset Reality - this is literally the reason we exist and we’ve been working hard in the background to develop the software solutions that countries and agencies will need to comply with the new standards.”

The FATF plenary also congratulated Albania, the Cayman Islands, Jordan and Panama for their significant progress in addressing previously identified deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing programmes under specified timeframes. As a result of their efforts, they will no longer be subject to increased monitoring by the FATF.

If you want to know more about our solution to streamline seized asset recovery & management, please contact press@assetreality.com or visit the Asset Reality website.

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