Rome, 24 June 2011 - Italy will take over the presidency of Gruppo d'Azione Finanziaria Internazionale - Financial Action Task Force (GAFI - FATF) for the 2011-2012 period. The nomination of Giancarlo Del Bufalo, who takes over from the outgoing chairman, the Mexican Luis Urrutia Corral, will come into effect 1 July 2011, but will be formalised today at the GAFI-FATF plenary meeting underway in Mexico City.
Italy has thus been given the task to steer FATF in the process aimed at revising the international anti money laundering and terrorist financing standards in view of the forthcoming fourth "Round of Mutual Evaluations" of FATF member and non-members. The new standards would apply in various areas of concern ranging from the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, to the fight against corruption and increased transparency in the financial sector.
The Italian chair is targeting the consolidation of the role of and activities carried out by FATF in these past few years, while identifying, in line with the policy pursued by the Mexican presidency, those countries that have highlighted strategic shortcomings in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, seeking to bring their systems to comply with international standards and to closely analyse the latest methods and technologies designed to use the financial sector for illicit purposes. A key aspect, in this light, will be the dialogue with the regional groups constituted along the FATF model (such as Moneyval for those countries that belong to the Council of Europe).
Contacts with the private as well as with the no-profit sectors will also be crucial.
The Italian presidency will terminate with the Plenary Meeting to be held in Rome in June 2012.
Vice-president of FATC in the 2010-2011 period, Giancarlo Del Bufalo has held a number of key positions in the Italian public administration, especially within the Ministry for the Economy and Finance where he was general manager of the Treasury and held the top jobs in the international finance and general affairs departments.
Mr Del Bufalo was a permanent member of OECD besides being the general secretary of the Commission for the introduction of the Euro in Italy.
About GAFI-FATF
Set up during the Paris G7 Meeting in 1989, Gruppo d'Azione Finanziaria Internazionale (GAFI) or Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an intergovernmental organism whose task is to promote and develop strategies aimed at combating the laundering of illicit capitals and, as from 2001, at preventing the financing of terrorist activity. In 2008 the FATF mandate was widened to include the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
FATF develops internationally recognised standards in the fight against illicit financial activities, examines the techniques behind and the evolution of these phenomena and assesses and monitors national systems. In addition, FATF singles out those countries that experience strategic difficulties in enforcing measures to contrast money laundering and terrorist financing, thereby providing to the financial sector useful information for the development of risk assessment analyses.
Belonging to FATF are 35 members, in representation of countries and regional organisations corresponding to the principal international financial centres, besides a number of observers consisting of some of the most prominent international organisms, namely IMF, World Bank, ECB, UN, Europol, Egmont. FATF has published 49 recommendations that, although non binding, have made a mark at an international level. These define the measures a country should implement to combat in an efficient way money laundering and terrorist financing.
The World Bank, IMF and the UN Security Council recognise its recommendations as international standards, and some 180 countries are committed to applying them.
Official site: http://www.fatf-gafi.org/ -Collegamento a sito esterno