MANAMA, 13 January 2004 — A meeting on the proposed establishment of an anti-money laundering body for the Middle East and North Africa will be held in Bahrain today.
The meeting is organized by the Ministry of Finance and National Economy and the Bahrain Monetary Agency (BMA) in coordination with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The meeting will discuss the technical aspects of a proposal to establish a regional organization similar to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global standard-setting body for combating money laundering and terrorist financing. It will be attended by technical experts and anti-money laundering officers from central banks and regulatory authorities in the GCC and throughout the Middle East region.
A proposal to set up a Middle East and North Africa FATF-style regional body is encouraged by international organizations involved in the global fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. The move is line with the Kingdom’s established policy of implementing accepted international practices in every aspect of financial regulation. Bahrain is prepared to host the new organization if it is established, said Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Khalifa Al-Khalifa, undersecretary at the Ministry of Finance and National Economy and chairman of the Anti-Money Laundering Policy Committee.
Khaled Abdullah Al-Bassam, deputy governor of the BMA, stressed that Bahrain implements FATF’s 40 recommendations on combating money laundering.
FATF-style bodies exist in several regions, including Asia-Pacific, the Caribbean and Latin America. The regional groups aim at facilitating the adoption, implementation and enforcement of internationally accepted standards for combating money laundering and financing terrorism.
