Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

• A report titled ‘Crowdfunding for Terrorism Financing’ was recently released by Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
• The FATF report notes four main ways in which crowdfunding platforms can be abused for terrorist financing purposes —
  • abuse of humanitarian, charitable or non-profit causes;
  • use of dedicated crowd-funding platforms or websites;
  • use of social media platforms and messaging apps; and
  • interaction of crowd-funding with virtual assets.

ABOUT FATF

• The FATF is the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog.
• The FATF was established in July 1989 by a G-7 Summit in Paris, initially to examine and develop measures to combat money laundering.
• After the 9/11 attacks, the FATF in October 2001 expanded its mandate to incorporate efforts to combat terrorist financing.
• It also works on the mechanisms to stop funding for weapons of mass destruction.
• Headquarters- Paris, France.
• The decision-making body of FATF is the FATF Plenary which meets thrice in a year.
• As of 2023 the FATF currently comprises 38 member jurisdictions and two regional organisations– European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council.
  • India has been a member of the FATF since 2010.
• Countries which repeatedly fail to adhere to FATF Standards can be placed on its Grey list or Black list.