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GIFCS meets: New MMOU signatories come on board

The Group of International Finance Centre Supervisors (GIFCS)* held a virtual Plenary meeting on 20 October 2020.   

The meeting was an important opportunity to update on technical developments and to share experiences in the current exceptional environment. 

It was announced that both the Mauritius FSC and Seychelles FSA had each formally recorded their commitment to the GIFCS Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMOU).  This MMOU forms the basis of co-operation among TCSP supervisors and is an important means of ensuring that, where appropriate, supervision of TCSP groups is co-ordinated on a group-wide basis.  Members welcomed the news which maintains the position that all GIFCS members hosting TCSP activity are full signatories of the MMOU. 

Other topics discussed at the meeting were:

  • GIFCS members’compliance with the FATF Recommendations
  • GIFCS submission to the FATF Strategic review
  • Update from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision on its current priorities and work programme
  • A discussion with the Financial Stability Institute on its delivery priorities in 2021
  • Evaluation of members’ compliance with the GIFCS Standard on the regulation of trust and company service providers
  • Update on other TCSP matters including the published evaluation report on the Cayman Islands, the adoption of the evaluation of the BVI, and a progress report on two other evaluations currently in progress
  • New applications for GIFCS membership
  • Input for the next GIFCS Plenary expected to be held in London in April 2021

At least two college meetings of TCSP supervisors will take place during the next six months, and the TCSP groups to be included were agreed.

28 October 2020

Notes for editors

The GIFCS is a long-established group of financial services supervisors with a core interest of promoting the adoption of international regulatory standards especially in the banking, fiduciary and AML/CFT arena. 

The GIFCS was established in 1980. Today its expanding membership accounts for a market share of approaching 10% of global international banking assets. The Group, which meets formally twice a year, has become a very pro-active contributor to promoting compliance among its membership with the Basel Core Principles and the FATF Recommendations on AML/CFT. It also contributes to some of work of the FATF and IOSCO. 

The GIFCS has become recognised as a leading authority on the regulation of trust and company service providers, the interface of these intermediaries with AML/CFT standards, and on the principle of identifying beneficial owners behind trust and company structures. It has issued an international Standard for regulation of this sector, which is being implemented by members and against which their compliance is being formally evaluated. 

Please see www.groupgifcs.org for further information. 

Contact:

John R Aspden

Chairman

Group of International Finance Centre Supervisors

Web:  www.groupgifcs.org

Email:  jaspden@groupgifcs.org

Tel:  +44 (0)7403610895

* Members are Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, BVI, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Curacao & Sint Maarten, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Labuan, Macao SAR, Mauritius, Qatar, Samoa, Seychelles, Turks & Caicos Islands and Vanuatu.