ABSTRACT
FOREWORD The Central Bank of Barbados first issued guidelines on this subject to financial institutions licensed under the Offshore Banking Act and the Financial Intermediaries Regulatory Act (now Financial Institutions Act) in April 1991 following the issuance of the Forty Recommendations by the Financial Action Task Forcel (FATF) a year earlier. In association with regional Central Banks, the Central Bank of Barbados revised and reissued new guidelines in March 1995. These notes provided guidance to financial institutions on the requirements for effective systems and controls in the fight against money laundering. Barbados has actively participated in the work of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force2 (CFATF), the regional chapter of the FATF. The Government of Barbados has enacted comprehensive legislation to address the issue of money laundering. More recently, the Money Laundering (Prevention And Control) Act, 1998-38 (lithe Act") was proclaimed and an Anti-Money Laundering Authority3 ('the Authority") and Financial Intelligence Unit were established. In light of the enactment of new legislation in April 2000 and ongoing international developments to improve regulatory standards, the Central Bank of Barbados is now revising its anti-money laundering guidelines. Financial institutions should ensure that the guidelines are also applied to their branches and subsidiaries abroad, especially in countries which do not or insufficiently apply similar recommendations, to the extent that local applicable laws and regulations permit. Financial institutions should inform the Central Bank of Barbados ("Central Bank) and the Authority when the local applicable laws and regulations prohibit the implementation of these guidelines. The guidelines will be used by the Central Bank in the assessment of the adequacy of anti-money laundering systems in place at licensed financial institutions.
