Seychelles submits report to ESAAMLG for re-rating
March 10, 2021
Seychelles has submitted its report to the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group, (ESAAMLG), for re-ratings concerning its Mutual Evaluation Report adopted in 2018 for consideration at the ESAAMLG Plenary in September 2021.
Last week, as a result of hard work and tremendous domestic coordination, amendments to six bills were presented and approved by the National Assembly to ensure Seychelles’ compliance with international standards, established by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
ESAAMLG, as the FATF-style regional body tasked with ensuring compliance and implementation of the FATF Recommendations, adopted Seychelles’ Mutual Evaluation Report in 2018, and it was determined that Seychelles was ‘compliant’ or ‘largely compliant’ to only 20 of the 40 FATF Recommendations. Seychelles was determined ‘partially compliant’ on 16 Recommendations and ‘non-compliant’ on 4 Recommendations.
The deficiencies identified related to the 20 Recommendations determined ‘partially’ or ‘non-compliant’ had to be positively addressed. Under agreement with ESAAMLG, Seychelles has three years since the publication of its report to demonstrate significant progress in addressing the deficiencies.
The aforementioned amendments to laws have addressed many of the deficiencies by better aligning Seychelles’ legal frameworks to international standards and by promoting improved consistencies in legal terms, standards and procedures.
The six bills which were approved by the National Assembly are as follows:
- The Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (Amendment) act, 2021
- The Extradition (Amendment) act, 2021
- The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) act, 2021
- The Beneficial Ownership (Amendment) act, 2021
- The International Trust (Amendment) act, 2021
- The Prevention of Terrorism (Amendment) act, 2021
The re-ratings request for consideration in September 2021, concern 14 Recommendations. Previously, in December 2020, ESAAMLG adopted re-ratings for 3 Recommendations moving Seychelles to more compliant with international standards.
Beyond the 14 Recommendations up for re-ratings, there are still 3 outstanding areas that Seychelles needs to address to fully comply with the FATF Recommendations, namely:
- Review of the Registration of Association Act
- Review of the licensing structure of the Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions, and introducing a licensing secretary regime for the domestic companies.
- A new framework for Virtual Asset Service Providers
- A new Asset Management Regime in support of asset recovery efforts
Aligning and amending Seychelles’ legal frameworks, in accordance with the FATF Recommendations, demonstrates Seychelles’ commitment to meeting international standards, protecting its reputation and reflects a country committed to safeguarding the integrity of the global financial system.
The Minister for Finance, Economic Planning and Trade, Naadir Hassan, has emphasized the importance for Seychelles to meet its international obligations and promote the integrity of the global financial system.
“It is important that the weaknesses which have been identified are rectified, so as not to compromise the reputation of our jurisdiction, and not put our banking system at risk.”
The National Committee on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism is tasked with coordinating the national efforts to keep Seychelles on par with international obligations and requirements and ensure implementation of all recommendations. The improvements to Seychelles’ standing have been attributed to the work of this Committee to include the recent legislative improvements.
The chairperson of the Committee, Patrick Payet, says ‘Seychelles cannot remain behind and playing catch up if it wants to continue on its economic development, thus it has to comply with international requirements.’