(CNS): Financial Services Minister André Ebanks, Attorney General Samuel Bulgin and other government officials were in Mexico last week continuing efforts to get the Cayman Islands off the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list of jurisdictions when it comes to money laundering. Cayman is still on the ‘watch’ list, as concerns remain about the lack of successful money laundering investigations or prosecutions.

The delegation met with the Americas Joint Group (Joint Group), a sub-working group of the FATF’s International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG), to update them on the latest developments regarding that remaining area of weakness. The group will report its findings to FATF ahead of its plenary in June, when a public statement will be released about the status of jurisdictions on its monitoring list and whether or not Cayman will be on the grey list.

If the jurisdiction is to be removed, that is expected to happen at the following plenary, which will be in October.

Since the last meeting, when Cayman remained on the list, Canover Watson and Bruce Blake received stiff sentences in a fraud case after the two football executives with CIFA and CONCACAF were convicted of various offences, including false accounting and money laundering. This case has been held up as an example of the jurisdiction’s efforts to tackle financial crime.

Efforts to get off the grey list may also have been assisted by the amendments to seven pieces of legislation that were passed in parliament last month that will help strengthen the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority’s powers to apply proportionate and dissuasive sanctions to all types of legal entities within its supervision.

Amendments to the Monetary Authority Act will also allow CIMA to spontaneously share non-public information of criminal conduct uncovered during its normal course of duties with an overseas regulatory authority.

After Mexico, Ebanks headed to London, where he will join Premier Wayne Panton this week and take part in several events, including a meeting with Cayman Finance and the Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council plenary sessions.

Panton will participate in a number of bilateral meetings and events, such as the UK Overseas Territories Association Political Council Meeting. This will be the first time the leaders of the Overseas Territories and senior UK parliamentarians have come together to debate and discuss issues of profound importance to the territories. At the invitation of UK Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the premier will also attend Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons.

After the JMC, Minister Ebanks will engage in stakeholder meetings in Hong Kong before joining officials from the Cayman Islands Intellectual Property Office in Singapore for the International Trade Mark Association Annual Meeting the week of 16 May.