On April 6, 2016, at the SIFMA Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Conference, Jennifer Fowler, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury, spoke regarding progress that the US has made in strengthening its framework for anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism. Fowler noted that the Financial Action Task Force is currently undergoing a mandatory assessment of its AML/CFT framework, focusing not only on technical compliance with the FATF standards, but more importantly, how effectively those standards are implemented. Fowler also addressed ways the US can improve in combating illicit finance, specifically, among other things, by: (i) seeking to clarify and strengthen customer due diligence requirements for financial institutions; and (ii) ensuring that companies know and disclose their ultimate, or beneficial, owners to the government at the time of company formation.
Fowler's speech is available at: https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl0409.aspx.
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