The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (High-Risk Countries) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2023 came into force on 5 December 2023.
This statutory instrument substitutes the list of high-risk third countries specified in Schedule 3ZA of The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLRs) with a new list.
The new list will continue to align with both the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s Jurisdictions under increased monitoring and High-risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action documents.
Schedule 3ZA consolidates these lists into a single list of countries, as all countries included in either of the FATF’s lists have significant shortcomings in their anti-money laundering, counter terrorist financing and counter-proliferation financing controls.
Specifically, this update adds Bulgaria, Cameroon, Croatia, Nigeria, South Africa and Vietnam and removes Albania, Cayman Islands, Jordan and Panama from Schedule 3ZA, to reflect changes in FATF lists.