The global measures implemented under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on money laundering, well-intentioned though they may be, are beginning to have a constricting effect on the operations of some key and critical social support measures in the Caribbean, not least non-profit organisations designed to provide timely responses to emergency circumstances arising out of natural disasters in the region.
On the back of the August 24 Hurricane Dorian that flattened several communities in The Bahamas, the President of The Bahamas Institute of Financial Services, Ryan Pinder, has said that there is a real danger that the regulatory constraints imposed on the financial operations of charitable organisations could place crippling restrictions on the degree of effectiveness with which they can respond to dire emergencies.
FATF is an intergovernmental organisation founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering. In 2001, in response to global occurrences, the organisation expanded its mandate to include the financing of terrorism.
