Financial Action Task Force — FATF
The international standard-setter for anti-money laundering — and the body whose recommendations most financial crime law is built on.
The Financial Action Task Force, or FATF, is an intergovernmental organisation established in 1989 to develop and promote policies to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and threats to the integrity of the global financial system. It currently has 40 member jurisdictions and two regional organisations, including the European Commission.
FATF doesn’t enforce the law. What it does do is more structurally significant: it sets the international standard. Its Recommendations — 40 in total, revised in 2023 — establish the benchmarks for compliant anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing systems. Jurisdictions that fail to meet the standard risk being placed on FATF’s grey or black lists, which triggers reputational and financial consequences serious enough that most states treat the Recommendations as effectively binding, regardless of their formal legal status.
This publication will reference FATF frequently. Its definitions form the baseline for financial crime terminology across member jurisdictions, and its mutual evaluation process — through which member states assess each other’s compliance — is itself an accountability mechanism worth examining.
FATF's guidance on beneficial ownership transparency sets the international standard for what disclosure member states are expected to require — and documents how far practice falls short of it.
Definition drawn from the FATF mandate and FATF Recommendations (2023).