EC identifies 23 countries with weak AML & CTF frameworks

Gambling operators (including, in particular, UK licensed casino operators) should take note of a European Commission press release, published yesterday (that can be downloaded below), identifying the following “third countries” as having “strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing frameworks”:

  1. Afghanistan
  2. American Samoa
  3. The Bahamas
  4. Botswana
  5. Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
  6. Ethiopia
  7. Ghana
  8. Guam
  9. Iran
  10. Iraq
  11. Libya
  12. Nigeria
  13. Pakistan
  14. Panama
  15. Puerto Rico
  16. Samoa
  17. Saudi Arabia
  18. Sri Lanka
  19. Syria
  20. Trinidad and Tobago
  21. Tunisia
  22. US Virgin Islands
  23. Yemen

There are no great surprises in that list, but it’s worth bearing in mind that the above list of 23 jurisdictions has been compiled by the EC on the basis of an analysis of 54 priority jurisdictions, which was prepared in consultation with EU Member States and previously made public on 13 November 2018.