Work is being done at “forced marches” to complete the anti-money laundering evaluation

Mexico is working at full speed to comply by June 2025 with the recommendations given by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to prevent and detect resources of illicit origin, acknowledged the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP).

In June of next year, Mexico will enter the fifth round of evaluation by the FATF, which will send the UIF a questionnaire to learn about the progress made in terms of effectiveness of the implementation of anti-money laundering regulations.

The FATF is an intergovernmental organization that establishes standards to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. It was created in 1989 by the Group of Seven (G7), made up of the largest economic countries.

The financial system complies with anti-money laundering prevention and detection standards, but regulating the activities that the SHCP determined to be vulnerable has been complex, which is why the UIF is seeking to resume a draft opinion for this sector, which was left pending in the Second Commission of Justice and Legislative Studies of the Senate.

We are going to move forward at a forced pace. We hope for the best scenario, that we will soon achieve the modification that is in the Senate, it is a legal reform that does not require an excessive vote (…)mentioned the area of ​​coordination with the FATF of the UIF in information delivered to The Day.

We have been too late in the change, if we had that reform since 2019 or 2020, we would have had an adequate implementation by now, but the reform to the anti-money laundering law has been delayed and it is the most important as a result of the adjustments that the FATF has made.he added.

Average rating

Activities considered vulnerable include gambling, contests and raffles, credit card transactions, utility and prepaid card transactions, and traveler’s checks. Also considered vulnerable are credits, construction and the marketing of real estate.

This includes the sale of works of art, vehicles, stones, precious metals, jewellery and watches, as well as money custody services, the provision of professional services, donations to non-profit organisations, rights to enjoy real estate and operations with virtual assets.

In 2017, the FATF gave Mexico a medium rating, which led to intensified monitoring, and it was subsequently evaluated favorably in technical compliance, but without progress in effectiveness, which is another line of analysis of the FATF.

To test the effectiveness of the regulations it has implemented in this fifth evaluation, the UIF will report how much information it has disseminated to the prosecutor’s office and how many investigation files have been opened, prosecuted and sentences have been obtained.