The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has added the British Virgin Islands (BVI) to its ‘grey list’ of jurisdictions with weak anti-money laundering (AML) regimes.

However, the FATF said the BVI and Bolivia have committed to implement an Action Plan to “swiftly” resolve their “strategic AML deficiencies”.

Jurisdictions placed on the FATF grey list are normally added to the EU’s list of high-risk third countries. That designation triggers enhanced due diligence by financial institutions, which can deter foreign investment.

The Territory is currently under pressure to improve access to the Publicly Accessible Registers of Beneficial Ownership. The register shows ownership of corporate entities registered in the Territory. Various reports have highlighted gaps in its rules on identifying corporate beneficial owners.

The register however, is scheduled to be implemented in July of this year. 

At home, grave issues such as a former Premier sitting in jail under drug trafficking and money laundering convictions, and the present Premier Natalio Wheatley and his Junior Minister Lorna Smith OBE in a ‘conflict of interest’ press war relating to the liquidation of Bank of Asia and $5 million of the people’s money deposited on the bank under peculiar circumstances, this outcome is not surprising. The Leader of the Opposition Honourable Myron Walwyn has called on the Governor to conduct an investigation into the matter. 

The Junior Minister for Financial Services traveled with a delegation to France this week for ‘high level’ meetings in regard to the BVI being grey listed. Those meetings have clearly failed in helping the territory avoid this bleak fate.