A report issued by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Money Laundering has recently confirmed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has made radical changes in regard with anti-money laundering (AML) and funding of terrorism so as to make its legal and institutional framework comes in line with FATF's updated recommendations. The FATF has praised the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's measures to combat money laundering, funding of terrorism and arms proliferation. This came in a recent report issued by the FATF, which discussed, several issues such as coordination and cooperation in the field of policy development and response to the risks faced by the KSA, describing that as an important point of strength in the Saudi system as the report pointed out that the KSA has proven that it has enough understanding of money laundering's risks and funding of terrorism through its national risk assessment by using a wide range of information; in this regard, the Kingdom has taken several measures to address specific risks identified by the national risk assessment. The report noted in particular that the Kingdom has a strong legal framework and practical measures to implement targeted financial sanctions imposed by the United Nations (UN) on terrorists without delay, describing also the preventive measures taken by financial and non-financial domestic sectors to combat money laundering and funding terrorism as strong and robust where banks, finance and securities companies have enough understanding of the risks of money laundering and funding of terrorism that they always face and implement a risk-based approach well in their precautionary measures.
