Jamaica Nears Full Compliance by Meeting 37 of 40 FATF Recommendations

Jamaica now complies with 37 out of 40 FATF recommendations for better prevention of financial crime.

Jamaica recently announced that it now complies with 37 out of 40 recommendations that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) enforced. These recommendations were given to help Jamaica battle the increasing threat of money laundering, terrorist financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. These recommendations were preventative measures that would allow the country to improve its financial ecosystem and have a safer environment for foreign businesses looking for opportunities. 

Providing the update in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (December 19), Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, said that this progress in the country’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML)/Counter-Terrorism Financing (CFT) legislative framework “is critically important for Jamaica and Jamaican citizens as we wage a multiple decade-long struggle with organized crime.”

In 2017, Jamaica was initially compliant with just 17 of these regulations. Assessments were conducted again in 2021, 2022, and 2023 to update its framework for compliance with the FATF guidelines. In 2023, Jamaica was the closest to compliance with the 40 recommendations. Additionally, to date, Jamaica is the only country in the global network to comply with Recommendations 24 and 25 (Transparency and Beneficial Ownership of Legal Arrangements), and the country has been elected to the Deputy Chairmanship of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF). 

There are still some recommendations left to comply with, to which Dr. Clarke responded by saying that “it is imperative for Jamaica to swiftly address these three remaining pieces of legislation, as the window for getting them in place is very narrow. Jamaica’s fifth round of mutual evaluation is scheduled for mid-2026. However, the date for submitting its self-assessment of its legal framework against the FATF 40 Recommendations (Technical Compliance Template) is December 2025.”

By complying with these 40 recommendations fully, Jamaica can exit the FATF’s increased monitoring list. This way, Jamaica will access more global opportunities, and its legislative structure against AML and CFT activities will improve.

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