Financial Action Task Force revises Universal Procedures for AML/CFT and counter-proliferation financing mutual evaluations and follow-up

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published a revised version of its Consolidated Processes and Procedures for Mutual Evaluations and Follow-Up, known as the Universal Procedures, which set the core procedural elements for anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and counter-proliferation financing (AML/CFT/CPF) assessments and follow-up across the FATF global network. The updated framework reiterates that assessments of countries’ effective implementation of the 2012 FATF Recommendations are conducted in line with the 2013 Assessment Methodology and that FATF-Style Regional Bodies and International Financial Institutions are expected to use the same or similar procedures, with flexibility permitted around a common set of core elements anchored in the High-Level Principles governing the FATF–FSRB relationship. FATF also notes that it amended its assessment methodology and procedures in 2022 and the Universal Procedures in 2023, with a new round of evaluations commencing in 2024 using the revised Universal Procedures, while the Universal Procedures and the 2013 FATF Methodology continue to apply for countries evaluated and in follow-up under the previous round.