On 26 June 2023, HM Treasury published an updated advisory notice on money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) controls in high-risk third countries.

The updated advisory notice explains that the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (High-Risk Countries) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 come into force on 27 June 2023 and substitute the list of high-risk third countries specified in schedule 3ZA of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 with a new list.

The list will continue to align with both the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) ‘Jurisdictions under increased monitoring’ and ‘High-risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action’ documents. Schedule 3ZA consolidates these lists into a single list of countries, as all

countries included in either of the FATF’s lists have significant shortcomings in their anti-money laundering, counter terrorist financing and counter-proliferation financing controls. Specifically, this update will remove Cambodia and Morocco from Schedule 3ZA.

The notice also states that the government will introduce a separate statutory instrument shortly to introduce country additions agreed to FATF’s list in February and June 2023, accompanied by a full impact assessment.