On the 10th of February 2025, MONEYVAL officially released its comprehensive Mutual Evaluation Report on Guernsey, providing an in-depth assessment of the island’s measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
The report evaluates Guernsey’s compliance with international financial regulations, highlighting both its strengths and recommended areas for improvement. MONEYVAL’s findings evidence a strong performance for the island having made significant efforts to strengthen its legal and regulatory AML/CFT framework since its last evaluation, confirming Guernsey’s status as one of the world’s prominent financial services jurisdictions and seeing the island become one of only three to receive a high effectiveness rating for its approach to sanctions.
Guernsey is shown to have developed and maintained a robust AML/CFT framework which was rated as either compliant or largely compliant with all 40 of the technical recommendations published by the Financial Action Task Force, with any remaining deficiencies determined to be minor in nature.
Key Findings:
- Guernsey’s AML/CFT framework was found to be Compliant or Largely Compliant with all 40 technical recommendations published by the Financial Action Task Force.
- All remaining deficiencies are deemed to be minor in nature, with MONEYVAL providing 11 priority actions for the island including:
- Allocating more resources to the Economic and Financial Crime Bureau (EFCB) to ensure it can effectively carry out its mandate. This includes hiring additional staff and providing necessary training to enhance their capabilities.
- Enhancing its use of financial information obtained from inbound Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) requests. This will help in identifying and addressing money laundering and terrorist financing risks more effectively.
- Making efforts to address underreporting of suspicious activity reports (SARs) and to improve the quality of these reports. This includes providing guidance and feedback to reporting entities to ensure they understand their obligations and can submit high-quality SARs.
- The primary money laundering risks for Guernsey arise from foreign criminality, including bribery, corruption, fraud, tax evasion, and drug trafficking. Criminal proceeds are most likely to originate from the UK, USA, and other major European countries.
- The Bailiwick faces a significantly lower threat of terrorist financing compared to money laundering. As an international financial centre, the Bailiwick is exposed to TF risks through the cross-border movement or storage of funds.
- Since its last evaluation, Guernsey made significant efforts to strengthen its legal and regulatory AML/CFT framework. These include publishing its first National Risk Assessments in 2020 and 2023, setting up the Economic and Financial Crime Bureau (EFCB) in 2021, and introducing beneficial ownership registers in 2018.
At Aspida, we are committed to supporting Guernsey’s ongoing efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Our expertise in regulatory compliance and risk management positions us as your ideal partner in navigating the evolving AML/CFT/CPF landscape.
Contact us today to learn how we can help you strengthen your AML/CFT/CPF framework and maintain Guernsey’s reputation as a leading financial services jurisdiction.
