FATF commends Mauritius for progress on action plan despite pandemic

Mauritius has provided clarifications to the queries posed by the assessors of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental body which sets anti-money laundering standards.

The assessors commended the island nation for the sustained progress made in implementing the FATF action plan despite the pandemic. This has raised hopes that the country will be able to come out of the grey list some time this year, said experts.

The observations were made during a virtual meeting held last month between Mauritius and the FATF African Middle East Joint Group.

The next FATF plenary session will be held this month during which the second progress report will be considered along with the report of the assessors.

In November, Mauritius submitted to the FATF its second progress report that detailed the measures taken to implement the FATF action plan.

"Mauritius has taken steps towards improving the Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime, by developing a risk-based supervision plan for global businesses and management companies,” the FATF had said in a note last year.

It had asked the country to continue working on its action plan to address strategic deficiencies, by focusing on five aspects that include implementing the risk-based supervision plan effectively for the Financial Services Commission, and ensuring access to accurate basic and beneficial ownership information by competent authorities.

Mauritius has obtained technical assistance from the EU-funded AML/CFT Global Facility and the German government (through German Development Agency, GIZ) to support implementation of the FATF Action Plan. Mauritius meets 53 out of the 58 recommended actions, including the big six recommendations, and there is an agreed timeline to cure the identified shortcomings.

The FATF has already rated the banking framework in Mauritius as largely compliant, based on the control measures implemented for cross-border transactions.

In February, Mauritius was put on the list of jurisdictions that required increased monitoring. This list is often referred to as the “grey list”. Jurisdictions under increased monitoring actively work with

the FATF to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes. These are done to counter money-laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing in a more efficient manner.

Mauritius is the second-largest foreign portfolio investor in India, with assets under custody totalling Rs 4.59 trillion as of January 31.