Money Laundering Regulation: Turks And Caicos Islands

The Turks and Caicos Islands ("TCI") are a British Overseas Territory. The territory´s legal system is based on English common law supplemented by local statutes.

The Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands is fully committed to meeting its international obligations with regard to sanction orders and in particular, denying criminals and terrorist groups and organisations access to the financial system.

The Islands are a member of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) which is itself an observer member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The CFATF is a regional body with similar form and function to the FATF. TCI is a member of Egmont via the operational unit, Financial Crime Unit (FCU) of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force. TCI is an associate member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and maintains an Interpol sub-bureau The TCI Financial Services Commission (FSC) is an independent statutory body tasked with supervising the financial services sector. The FSC conducts on-site and off-site examinations to determine compliance with TCI laws and regulations, and has the ability to issue sanctions for noncompliance. The FSC subscribes to a risk based approach, and requires financial institutions to adopt this approach by implementing regulations and guidelines into their internal controls and procedures.

Legislation on Prevention of Money Laundering Activities There are two anti-money laundering regimes in place in the Turks and Caicos Islands:

1. The general anti-money laundering regime contained in: The Proceeds of Crime Ordinance 2007("POCO 2007"); The Anti-Money Laundering Regulations 2007 ("the Regulations"); The Anti-Money Laundering and Prevention of Terrorist Financing Code (the "Code"). 2. The anti-terrorist funding regime established by the U.K. Government contained in: The United Kingdom Terrorism (United Nations Measures) (Overseas Territories) Order 2001; The Al-Qa’ida and Taliban (United Nations Measures) (Overseas Territories) Order 2002; and The Anti-Terrorism (Financial and Other Measures) (Overseas Territories) Order 2002. Terrorism (UN Measures) (Overseas Territories) Order 2001 The order prohibits fundraising for terrorism purposes and restricts the making available of funds and financial services to terrorists, and provides powers to freeze accounts of suspected terrorists.

Al Qaida and Taliban (United Nations Measures) Order 2002 ("UNMO") The UNMO was introduced in January 2002. to...