On 24 June 2026, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issued a consultation on draft guidance on the revised Recommendation 16.

Background

In June 2025, the FATF adopted amendments to Recommendation 16 (R.16) and its Interpretive Note (INR. 16) to adapt the FATF Standards to changes in the payments landscape, including the diversity of payment products and services, market participants, business models, technologies, and messaging standards, as well as evolving risks and vulnerabilities. All countries around the world are expected to be ready to implement the changes by the end of 2030.

R.16, as revised, clarifies the roles and responsibilities of financial institutions along the payment chain, strengthens information requirements, and introduces alignment checks to detect misdirected payments, and targeted requirements for cross-border cash withdrawals.

Specifically, R.16 aims to ensure that basic information on the originator and beneficiary of payments or value transfers is immediately available to:

  • Appropriate law enforcement and/or prosecutorial authorities to assist them in detecting, investigating, and prosecuting terrorists or other criminals, and tracing their assets.
  • Financial intelligence units for analysing suspicious or unusual activity and disseminating it, as necessary.
  • Ordering, intermediary and beneficiary financial institutions to facilitate the identification and reporting of suspicious transactions, and to implement the requirements to take freezing action and comply with prohibitions from conducting transactions with designated persons and entities, as per the obligations set out in the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions relating to the prevention and suppression of terrorism and terrorist financing, and the resolutions relating to the prevention, suppression and disruption of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and its financing.

Draft guidance

The draft guidance does not aim to change the obligations set out in the FATF Standards under the revised R.16. It aims to assist public and private sector stakeholders to effectively implement the requirements set out in R.16 through detailed explanations complemented by practical examples. As such it should be read in conjunction with R.16 and INR.16.

Next steps

The deadline for comments on the consultation is 21 August 2026.