The Cayman Islands is a step closer to being removed from the “grey list” of countries that the Financial Action Task Force is monitoring for deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism regimes.

The decision, announced after the FATF plenary on Friday in Paris, is subject to successful completion of an on-site visit by the organisation.

Attorney-General Samuel Bulgin KC, Minister of Financial Services and Commerce André Ebanks, and the head of the anti-money laundering unit Francis Arana, attended the plenary to represent the Cayman Islands and discuss progress made on the last of the three recommended actions in the FATF Action Plan, the Cayman Ministry of Financial Services said in a statement.

It said the on-site visit was tentatively scheduled for late August or early September.

FATF assessors will meet local stakeholders to examine the operation of its action plan in practice and its sustainability.

An on-site visit report will be presented at the next FATF plenary, scheduled for October, at which the Cayman Islands will learn whether it will be delisted.

FATF listed Cayman in February 2021.

To be delisted, FATF required Cayman to complete three recommended actions, which were what remained from 63 actions, following a post-observation period report to the FATF in February 2021.

Mr Ebanks said: “Satisfying all of the 63 recommended actions is a major step towards the Cayman Islands being delisted but, as is the case for other listed countries that met this milestone, there is one more step to complete, and all relevant stakeholders need to remain focused.”

The on-site visit will be made by the Americas Joint Group – a subgroup of FATF’s International co-operation Review Group.

Mr Bulgin acknowledged that “the FATF process is rigorous with reason. Its purpose among other things is to ensure that local authorities can effectively deter, detect, investigate and prosecute serious crimes.”

A statement on the FATF website said: “In February 2021, the Cayman Islands made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and CFATF to strengthen the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime.

“At its June 2023 plenary, the FATF made the initial determination that the Cayman Islands has substantially completed its action plan and warrants an on-site assessment to verify that the implementation of the AML/CFT reforms has begun and is being sustained, and that the necessary political commitment remains in place to sustain implementation in the future.

“The Cayman Islands has made the following key reforms, including:

• Applying sanctions that are effective, proportionate and dissuasive, and taking administrative penalties and enforcement actions against obliged entities to ensure that breaches are remediated effectively and in a timely manner;

• Imposing adequate and effective sanctions in cases where relevant parties (including legal persons) do not file accurate, adequate and up to date beneficial ownership information; and

• Demonstrating that they are prosecuting all types of money laundering in line with the jurisdiction’s risk profile and that such prosecutions are resulting in the application of dissuasive, effective, and proportionate sanctions.