Premier Dr. the Honourable Natalio Wheatley and Deputy Premier and Minister for Financial Services Honourable Lorna Smith, OBE have both reacted to the publication of the Mutual Evaluation Report of the Virgin Islands by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).
The statement issued subsequent to the report’s release shared that the government has welcomed its contents and confirmed its commitment to rigorously implementing the recommendations.
In line with this, the government has shared its plans for implementation in a newly published National Action Plan.
“We know high standards of financial integrity and transparency that meet global standards are essential,” said Premier Wheatley. “The government has prioritised resources to support the work outlined in the Action Plan, and I am confident that our public and private sectors will work together to ensure we progress successfully.”
Deputy Premier Smith stated that a number of the report’s recommendations are already underway.
These include revising the National Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism Policy, updating risk assessment frameworks, implementing the virtual asset service provider regulatory framework, drafting legislation to address technical gaps, ensuring beneficial ownership information is maintained by public authorities, assessing terrorist financing risks for non-profit organizations, establishing a Sanctions Unit, providing training on investigative techniques and sanctions compliance, enhancing coordination among law enforcement agencies, updating the terrorist financing risk assessment, and introducing a Compliance and Governance Master Course.
Attorney General Honourable Dawn J. Smith confirmed that the National Action Plan’s implementation has already begun.
“The Minister’s presence at the CFATF Plenary in November 2023 demonstrated the high level of commitment of the Virgin Islands Government,” said Smith. She believes the strong legislative framework combined with the partnership between public and private sectors will enable safeguarding business integrity while implementing CFATF recommendations satisfactorily.
Minister Smith emphasized the importance of the public-private partnership in identifying and mitigating risks, stating, “Our goal is to ensure the Virgin Islands is always a hostile environment for illegitimate financial activity. The partnership between ourselves, our competent authorities, law enforcement agencies and the private sector to identify and address the risks we face is vital. We must work together even more closely to mitigate them and successfully pursue the prosecution of financial crime.”