<http://www.bbc.co.uk/caribbean/news/story/2004/04/040415_anguilla-money.shtml> The BBC ----------- RELATED SITES Last updated: 15 April, 2004 - Published 16:13 GMT Money laundering rules 'will increase costs' Criminals are using increasingly sophiscated methods for laundering money Authorities in Anguilla have said proposed international rules to combat money laundering will increase the costs of business transactions. Deputy director of Anguilla's Financial Services Commission Carlyle Rogers said he anticipates the programme will result in greater costs of doing onshore and offshore business. The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force - the financial watchdog of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development - issued the 40-point programme last June. The proposals were designed to keep international law enforcement abreast of increasingly sophisticated efforts by criminals to conceal illegal money flows. The programme lays out broad recommendations for regulating businesses from banks and insurers to gem dealers and real estate agents. Mr Rogers singled out the recommendations that relate to the extension of the due diligence requirements of accountants, law firms, casinos, real estate agents, trust companies and company service providers. He has also questioned the recommendation that calls for the extension of the mandatory reporting of suspicious transactions to authorities by lawyers, accountants and other entities. Anguillan officials say as well as the issue of higher costs banks on the island would come under stricter regulation and scrutiny, in terms of the correspondence banking relationships they have with other financial institutions around the world. Anguilla has recently proposed three new pieces of legislation to bring the island in line with other offshore centres as part of the development of its financial services industry. These include a Mutual Funds Act covering the recognition and registration of offshore mutual funds; an Insurance Act, which provides for the formation of both domestic and captive insurance companies and a Protected Cell Companies Act to offer international clients the opportunity to use protected cell accounts for insurance purposes. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'