26/09/2023

Saint Lucia completes 2022 National Risk Assessment; applies for re-rating in November

By NCPC

The Attorney General’s Chambers has announced Saint Lucia’s completion of the 2022 Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing National Risk Assessment. The National Risk Assessment forms a critical part of Saint Lucia’s effective application of its risk-based program. The risk assessment allows the country to identify, assess, and understand its exposure to money laundering and terrorist financing and implement measures to mitigate the identified risks.

Juliana Alfred, Permanent Secretary in the Attorney General’s Chambers and Chair of the National Anti-Money Laundering Oversight Committee (NAMLOC) said the committee has been working assiduously to ensure Saint Lucia’s readiness for rerating.

“We’ve had quite a bit of legislative amendments undertaken. We’ve had a lot of consultation with various stakeholders and very importantly we’ve undertaken a national risk assessment. Our last national risk assessment was done sometime in 2019 and we completed the recent one in 2022. This risk assessment has said to us that we are at medium overall for money laundering and for terrorism financing, we are at medium low.”

In 2019, Saint Lucia was assessed as medium high for money laundering and medium for terrorist financing.

“It’s clear based on what we are seeing from the national risk assessment that the efforts the committee and Saint Lucia have placed in addressing the deficiencies are paying off and so we are very happy about that. In addition to the legislative amendments we’ve been working with the stakeholders so that they understand what the risks are in terms of FATTF’s requirements and ensuring that they have their compliance measures in place to address these risk measures.”

Attorney General, Leslie Mondesir, indicated that the government has passed a suite of legislative amendments, including Money Laundering Legislation, Anti-Terrorism, Proceeds of Crime, Virtual Assets Legislation, and the Mutual Legal Assistance Legislation.

“Government so far is satisfied with the work of the National Anti-Money Laundering Oversight Committee. I have been briefing Cabinet as to the progress and so far we are satisfied with the progress of the committee in light of the fact that we are applying for a re-rating in November later this year.”

The completion of Saint Lucia’s risk assessment was a collaborative approach, engaging key stakeholders from both the public and private sectors, including the Financial Intelligence Authority, Customs and Exercise, the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Inland Revenue Department, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank.

“This forms a critical part of our re-rating process in November. In fact, I am happy to report that Saint Lucia is applying for 22 recommendations that were partially compliant or non-compliant. I can safely say that we are very happy with the feedback that we are receiving in terms of the work that Saint Lucia has undertaken.”

Work continues with the augmentation of resources, including personnel, technological tools, and training to improve the regulatory and investigative capacities of competent authorities.

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