The 40 FATF Recommendations: the international standard for combating money laundering and terrorist financing

Adopted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the 40 Recommendations are the international benchmark standard for combating money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (AML/CFT/CPF). They set out the framework that each country must transpose into its legislation, regulations and practices, adapting it to its own circumstances and to the risks it faces.

As the FATF-style regional body for West Africa, GIABA ensures that its Member States implement these standards. The mutual evaluations it conducts measure both the technical compliance of national systems with the 40 Recommendations and their actual effectiveness on the ground.

A standard that evolves with the threats

The FATF was established in 1989 on the initiative of the G7. Its first Recommendations, published in 1990, targeted the misuse of the financial system by drug traffickers. They were revised in 1996 and again in 2003 to cover a wider range of offences and professions. After the 2001 attacks, the FATF adopted special recommendations on terrorist financing, which were merged in 2012 into a single version that also covers proliferation financing.

Since then, the text has been updated regularly: virtual assets, beneficial ownership transparency, asset recovery, protection of non-profit organisations, financial inclusion (February 2025) and payment transparency (revision of Recommendation 16 in June 2025, to be implemented by the end of 2030).

A. AML/CFT policies and coordination

1. Assessing risks and applying a risk-based approach – Each country identifies and assesses its money laundering and terrorist financing risks, then focuses its resources where those risks are highest, while applying simplified measures where risks are low.
2. National cooperation and coordination – Competent authorities define national AML/CFT/CPF policies and coordinate their action, including in compliance with data protection rules.

B. Money laundering and confiscation

3. Money laundering offence – Money laundering is criminalised and applies to the widest possible range of predicate offences.
4. Confiscation and provisional measures – Authorities must be able to identify, freeze, seize and confiscate the proceeds and instrumentalities of crime, so as to deprive criminals of the fruits of their activities.

C. Terrorist financing and financing of proliferation

5. Terrorist financing offence – The financing of terrorist acts, terrorist organisations and individual terrorists is criminalised, even in the absence of a link to a specific act.
6. Targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism and terrorist financing – Countries freeze without delay the funds of persons and entities designated by the United Nations Security Council or at national level.
7. Targeted financial sanctions related to proliferation – The same freezing mechanism applies to persons and entities involved in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
8. Non-profit organisations – Countries protect non-profit organisations at risk of terrorist financing abuse through focused and proportionate measures that do not hinder their legitimate activities.

D. Preventive measures

9. Financial institution secrecy laws – Banking or professional secrecy must not inhibit the implementation of the Recommendations.
10. Customer due diligence – Financial institutions identify and verify the identity of their customers and beneficial owners, understand the nature of the business relationship and monitor it on an ongoing basis.
11. Record keeping – Identification data and transaction records are kept for at least five years and made available to the authorities.
12. Politically exposed persons – Enhanced due diligence measures apply to relationships with persons who hold or have held prominent public functions, and with their family members and close associates.
13. Correspondent banking – Banks carefully assess their foreign correspondents and refuse any relationship with shell banks.
14. Money or value transfer services – Providers of these services are licensed or registered and subject to effective monitoring.
15. New technologies – The risks associated with new products and technologies are assessed; virtual assets and virtual asset service providers are regulated and supervised.
16. Wire transfers (payment transparency) – The required originator and beneficiary information accompanies payments throughout the payment chain. This Recommendation was revised in June 2025.
17. Reliance on third parties – An institution may rely on a third party for certain due diligence measures, but it retains ultimate responsibility.
18. Internal controls and foreign branches and subsidiaries – Institutions implement internal AML/CFT programmes and apply them across their whole group, including abroad.
19. Higher-risk countries – Enhanced due diligence measures apply to business relationships and transactions with countries identified by the FATF.
20. Reporting of suspicious transactions – Any transaction involving funds suspected of being the proceeds of criminal activity or related to terrorist financing is reported promptly to the financial intelligence unit.
21. Tipping-off and confidentiality – Persons reporting in good faith are protected, and it is prohibited to disclose to the customer that a report has been filed.
22. DNFBPs: customer due diligence – Due diligence obligations extend to casinos, real estate agents, dealers in precious metals and stones, lawyers, notaries, accountants and trust and company service providers.
23. DNFBPs: other measures – These professions are also subject to suspicious transaction reporting and internal control obligations.

E. Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons and arrangements

24. Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons – Authorities must have timely access to accurate and up-to-date information on the natural persons who ultimately own or control companies.
25. Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal arrangements – The same requirements apply to trusts and similar legal arrangements.

F. Powers and responsibilities of competent authorities and other institutional measures

26. Regulation and supervision of financial institutions – Financial institutions are subject to adequate regulation and supervision, and criminals are prevented from taking control of them.
27. Powers of supervisors – Supervisors have the powers needed to conduct inspections, obtain information and impose sanctions.
28. Regulation and supervision of DNFBPs – These professions are subject to risk-based monitoring by a supervisor or a self-regulatory body.
29. Financial intelligence units – Each country has a national unit that receives and analyses suspicious transaction reports, then disseminates the results of its analysis to the competent authorities.
30. Responsibilities of law enforcement and investigative authorities – Designated authorities conduct money laundering and terrorist financing investigations, including parallel financial investigations.
31. Powers of law enforcement and investigative authorities – These authorities have the means to access records, use special investigative techniques and identify assets swiftly.
32. Cash couriers – Countries detect the physical cross-border transportation of currency and bearer negotiable instruments through a declaration or disclosure system.
33. Statistics – Comprehensive statistics are maintained to measure the effectiveness of the national system.
34. Guidance and feedback – Authorities issue guidelines and provide reporting entities with feedback on the follow-up given to their reports.
35. Sanctions – Effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions — criminal, civil or administrative — apply to natural and legal persons that fail to comply with their obligations.

G. International cooperation

36. International instruments – Countries ratify and implement the relevant United Nations conventions, notably the Vienna, Palermo and Merida Conventions and the Terrorist Financing Convention.
37. Mutual legal assistance – Countries provide the widest possible range of mutual legal assistance, rapidly, in investigations and prosecutions.
38. Mutual legal assistance: freezing and confiscation – They act expeditiously at the request of another country to identify, freeze, seize and confiscate assets.
39. Extradition – Extradition requests relating to money laundering and terrorist financing are handled effectively and without undue delay.
40. Other forms of international cooperation – Financial intelligence units, supervisors and investigative authorities exchange information with their foreign counterparts, spontaneously or upon request.

GIABA’s role

GIABA supports its Member States in transposing and applying these standards: mutual evaluations and follow-up, technical assistance, capacity building, typology studies and awareness-raising for the public and private sectors. For each country evaluated, the results are published in a mutual evaluation report, available in the Publications section.

This summary is provided for information purposes only. Only the official text of the FATF Recommendations and their interpretive notes is authoritative. To consult it: The FATF Recommendations on the official FATF website.