The report was released as Canada prepares for a Financial Action Task Force review
The Federation of Law Societies of Canada has published what it described as a “first of its kind” anti-money laundering compliance report as the country gears up for a review by the Financial Action Task Force.
The federation said the report was the first to comprehensively analyze the compliance of Canada’s law societies with the FATF’s standards under its 40 Recommendations – global standards that require countries to implement strong measures against money laundering and terrorist financing. The FLSC’s report collated input from all 14 law societies in the country and was drafted by the federation’s standing committee on AML and terrorist financing.
The report tackled the following points:
The report indicated that the Model Rules reflect FATF requirements but are not an identical scheme since the Model Rules are tailored to the Canadian legal market and are based on constitutional rights and requirements as interpreted by the Supreme Court of Canada.
The report also broke down each FATF recommendation pertaining to legal professionals to show the role played by Canadian law societies in the country’s broader AML efforts. According to the FLSC, the technical compliance review is the initial step in the FATF’s evaluation of Canada’s AML framework.
The FLSC will publish a follow-up report on the effectiveness of law society regulation in the summer. The FATF has scheduled an on-site review for later in the year.
