Following the removal of the Cayman Islands from the Financial Action Task Force's list of "jurisdictions under increased monitoring" in October 2023, on 12 December 2023, the European Commission adopted the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/163 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675 as regards the deletion of the Cayman Islands and Jordan from the table in point I of the Annex (the "Regulation"). The Cayman Islands will be removed from the EU list of third-country jurisdictions which have strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering / countering financing of terrorism ("AML/CFT") regimes (the "EU AML List") on 7 February 2024 when the Regulation enters into force.
The Regulation states that the Cayman Islands has strengthened the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime and addressed technical deficiencies to meet the commitments in its action plan on the strategic deficiencies identified by the Financial Action Task Force. The European Commission's assessment of the available information leads it to conclude that the Cayman Islands no longer has strategic deficiencies in its AML/CFT regime. It is therefore appropriate to delete the Cayman Islands from the table in point I of the Annex to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675.
In addition, with effect from 5 December 2023, pursuant to the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (High-Risk Countries) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2023, the Cayman Islands has been removed from the UK list of high-risk countries for anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing purposes (the "UK AML List").
The imminent removal of the Cayman Islands from the EU AML List and the removal of the Cayman Islands from the UK AML List are significant milestones in, and evidence of, the Cayman Islands' commitment to AML/CFT. It also means that relevant financial institutions subject to the UK AML/CFT regime or the EU AML/CFT regime will no longer need to apply enhanced customer due diligence measures to business relationships and transactions involving the Cayman Islands.
Furthermore, on the removal of the Cayman Islands from the EU AML List, EU financial institutions will no longer be prohibited, pursuant to Article 4 of the EU Securitisation Regulation, from establishing new securitisation special purpose entities in the Cayman Islands.
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