The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on June 29 extended until October the deadline for Iran to pass and implement legal measures to address concerns regarding anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) in its financial sector. It is clear that a failure to implement what Iran included in its own action plan more than two years ago would undermine the confidence of governments and banks wanting to continue dealing with Iran despite the re-imposition of US sanctions.
According to the FATF’s statement on the extension, Iran needs to address a number of deficiencies and “proceed swiftly in the reform path to ensure that it addresses all of the remaining items in its Action Plan by completing and implementing the necessary AML/CFT reforms, in particular enacting the necessary legislation. We expect Iran to enact amendments to its AML and CFT laws and ratify the Palermo and TF Conventions in full compliance with the FATF Standards by October 2018, otherwise, the FATF will decide upon appropriate and necessary actions at that time.”