Anti-Money Laundering to be strengthened in Jersey
Strengthening anti-money laundering laws aimed at preventing Jersey’s usage for money laundering or terrorism financing purposes is being considered by this jurisdiction’s Council of Ministers. Recently, a public consultation on extending the law has been launched in order to invite points of view from businessmen. According to the proposals included in the consultation papers, the regulations would cover estate agents, solicitors and businesses dealing in high value transactions.
Next year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will publish a review of of Jersey’s financial centre performance. The above-mentioned activities are included in the preparation for the next year’s review.
In 2008, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man will be visited by the representatives of the IMF, who will assess complying with international standards regarding anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.
To prepare for the IMF visit, a group is established by the Council of Ministers. This group, entitled AML/CFT Strategy Group, will oversee Jersey’s strategy to prevent money laundering and financing terrorism by means of using the jurisdiction. Two consultation papers on updating and extending Jersey’s anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism framework to comply with the latest international standards have already been issued by the group.
It is important that changes in the regulations are in line with international standards as far as the IMF will undertake the review to test it for active compliance with them.
The States Director of International Finance, Martin De Forest-Brown, has made comments on the proposals to emhasize the necessity for the jurisdiction to get a good result from the International Monetary Fund review in 2008 so that Jersey continued to be flexible maintaining its well-established reputation.