The Guernsey authorities, the Policy Council, the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Guernsey Financial Services Commission and law enforcement, are committed to meeting established international standards on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism. In this connection, the October 2003 report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on its Module 2 assessment of the Bailiwick of Guernsey endorsed the Bailiwick’s high level of compliance with the standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Further information on FATF and its standards are available on its website at www.fatf-gafi.org.

Typologies

The methods used for money laundering and terrorist financing are in constant evolution. As the international financial sector and other businesses implement the standards set by the FATF, criminals must find alternative channels to launder the proceeds of their criminal activities and finance their illicit activities.

International organisations such as the FATF and the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units identify new threats and research money laundering and terrorist financing methods. They also produce typologies reports, which describe and explain the nature of these methods and threats, thus increasing global awareness and allowing for earlier detection of money laundering and terrorist financing.

In order to assist financial services businesses and prescribed businesses in Guernsey to be aware of the variety of methods used to launder money and to finance terrorism, the Commission is providing links to documents which provide examples of cases. Businesses may find these cases useful for training and awareness purposes.

In addition, the Jersey Financial Services Commission and the Joint Financial Crime Unit in Jersey have jointly commissioned an AML/CFT Typologies document using local case studies where they are available otherwise international cases are included where they are relevant to local businesses.

A document has also been issued by the Egmont Training Working Group, which undertook an initiative to draw together a compilation of sanitised cases about the fight against money laundering undertaken by the Egmont Group member FIUs. The cases were subdivided into six categories, containing five general money laundering typologies and one chapter focusing on intelligence exchange successes. The categories used were:

Concealment within Business Structures
Misuse of Legitimate Businesses
Use of False Identities, Documents, or Straw Men
Exploiting International Jurisdictional Issues
Use of Anonymous Asset Types
Effective Use of Intelligence Exchanges

For further information on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism please see the FATF website and the Egmont case studies.

Case studies involving dealers in high value goods can be found here.

Case studies involving charities and non-profit organisations can be found here.