Iran Remains on FATF Blacklist

The international money-laundering watchdog the Financial Action Task Force said Friday that it had made no changes in its blacklist, which for the moment includes three countries Iran, Myanmar and North Korea. The announcement came on the final day of the FATF plenary meeting in Paris.
FATF also said in a press release on its website that it had put Cameroon, Croatia and Vietnam on its "grey list" of countries under increased monitoring. The three nations join 23 others on the list which are "actively working with the FATF to address the strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing".
Other countries on the grey list include Albania, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It said that it will maintain Iran's position on its blacklist until the country completes its full Action Plan. 
"If Iran ratifies the Palermo and Terrorist Financing Conventions, in line with the FATF standards, the FATF will decide on next steps, including whether to suspend countermeasures. 
Until Iran implements the measures required to address the deficiencies identified with respect to countering terrorism-financing in the Action Plan, the FATF will remain concerned with the terrorist financing risk emanating from Iran and the threat this poses to the international financial system," the international body said in a press release published on its website Friday. 
"Given Iran’s failure to enact the Palermo and Terrorist Financing Conventions in line with FATF Standards, the FATF fully lifts the suspension of counter-measures and calls on its members and urges all jurisdictions to apply effective counter-measures, in line with Recommendation 19," the announcement said.
The FATF lifted the suspension of counter-measures on Iran and called on its members and all jurisdictions to apply effective counter-measures against Tehran since February 2020.

Seeking Technical  Assistance 

In June 2016, it welcomed Iran’s high-level political commitment to address its strategic AML/CFT deficiencies, and its decision to seek technical assistance in the implementation of the Action Plan. 
Since 2016, Iran established a cash declaration regime, enacted amendments to its Counter-Terrorist Financing Act and its Anti-Money Laundering Act, and adopted an AML by-law.
In October 2019, the FATF called upon its members and urged all jurisdictions to require increased supervisory examination for branches and subsidiaries of financial institutions based in Iran; introduce enhanced relevant reporting mechanisms or systematic reporting of financial transactions; and require increased external audit requirements for financial groups with respect to any of their branches and subsidiaries located in Iran.
In February 2020, the FATF noted that there are still items not completed and Iran should fully address, including “ratifying and implementing the Palermo and TF Conventions and clarifying the capability to provide mutual legal assistance”,  “ensuring an adequate and enforceable customer due diligence regime”, ”demonstrating how authorities are identifying and sanctioning unlicensed money/value transfer service providers” and “ensuring that financial institutions verify that wire transfers contain complete originator and beneficiary information”.