The Barristers and Accountants AML/ATF Board (“the Board”) is a statutory board established jointly by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Bermuda (CPA Bermuda) and the Bermuda Bar Association. The Board has been designated by the Minister of Justice under the Proceeds of Crime (Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Supervision and Enforcement)
Act, 2008 (the “Act”) to be the supervisor
The Barristers and Accountants AML/ATF Board (“the Board”) is a statutory board established jointly by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Bermuda (CPA Bermuda) and the Bermuda Bar Association. The Board has been designated by the Minister of Justice under the Proceeds of Crime (Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Supervision and Enforcement)
Act, 2008 (the “Act”) to be the supervisory authority for regulated professional firms (barristers and accountants)as defined in the Act.
y authority for regulated professional firms (barristers and accountants)as defined in the Act.
I am pleased to be able to welcome George Jones and Heather VanSickle to the Board to help with the supervisory process. Heather has been appointed by the CPA and works as an Accountant and in Compliance for Meritus Trust. George has been appointed by the Bar Association and is the General Counsel at Argus Insurance. I look forward to new input and assistance on the Board.
Risk Assessments Due
Late last year we asked the sector to provide us with a copy of your Risk Assessments. Some have provided very good well thought out Assessments that the Board can use to begin to fully assess the risks of the sector as a whole . Generally however we believe work is needed in this area where Risks of your enterprises are fully considered and the Controls around those risks fully set out so that our Supervisor can check that the Controls are in place and are working. Also we need more engagement from the sector to get more robust data points in order to show Effectiveness as a Supervisory Authority. We will work hard to move the dial in this area because from these Risk Assessments the Compliance effort of the firms emanates and upon which the Compliance effort of the Board is based. Please send in your well considered Risk Assessments. We will also come back to the sector to seek data on the actual risks in your businesses as well.
2016 Data Due
We have started to collect data from the RPFs to start to measure our Effectiveness as a supervisory authority. Your feedback and input to this data gathering is most important as our Effectiveness will be measured over a period of time. We sent out a second questionnaire to the sectors to gather 2016 data. Please return your questionnaires otherwise we will have to resort to seeking Supreme Court rulings to force the delivery of the data.
Training
The Supervisor is planning quarterly training session with the sector on topics that will assist you in better monitoring AML and ATF Risks. We will look to talk more about Risk Assessments, the importance of reporting SARs , the need to be very diligent when taking on PEPs as Clients and the need for engagement from the sector in the provision of information to the Board. We urge you to attend these sessions.
If you have questions or comments we ask you to contact us so that we can understand and respond to the needs and questions of the sector.
Regards,
Christine Patton - Chairman
April 2017 Newsletter
Published: 11 May 2017
Chairman's Letter June 2018
Published: 21 June 2018
Chairman of the Board, Mr. Warren Cabral provides an update on the matters the Board is presently working on. Click here to read it.
Chairman's letter to The Board
Published: 30 November 2016
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
I became Chairman of the Board in January 2016 and since then the Board has had a very busy 9 month period. With the approaching Mutual Evaluation to occur in 2018 and the gearing up of the National Anti Money Laundering Authority- NAMLC- preparing the Nation for this visit, a lot has been asked of our organization. This is a very important review which will have a large impact on our Nation so we are fully engaged in this preparation, not only for this agency but for Bermuda as a whole.
In 2018 Bermuda will be assessed by CFATF on two levels in the AML/ATF space: Technically do we have all the laws and policies in place to supervise AML and ATF compliance. Our Effectiveness will also be measured and this is more about how much all our sectors are aware of the risks of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing and how they are mitigated in the space. As such we have had to design and implement new tools to help us think about these matters and to improve our Effectiveness. Along with this has come a huge engagement project with all the other AML/ATF supervisors in Bermuda who are all meeting on a regular basis to prepare Bermuda for this audit.
We have increased our outreach efforts and training programs as provided by our Supervisor. Going forward joint barrister and accountant training sessions will occur and think tank sessions of the MLROs will be hosted – the first one occurring on November 24 2016. Our Supervisor has completed OnSite visits of almost all our regulated entities so we now have a strong touch point with the sector we regulate and have shared a lot of information and direction with our regulated entities.
We have started to collect data from the RPFs to start to measure our Effectiveness as a supervisory authority. Your feedback and input to this data gathering which will be ongoing is most important as our Effectiveness will be measured over a period of time. We have met with the Boards of the Bar Association and CPA and have shared the vision of the compliance effort and the way the preparation for the Mutual Evaluation is being managed. We have conducted an Enterprise risk assessment of our sector and our environment and in October we conducted a deep dive risk assessment of all our RPFs. From this we have generated an RPF rating scheme and a Compliance program where we expect to focus more on looking at RPF Risk Assessments and Mitigating Tools.
We are pleased to be able to launch a new website which will be a helpful tool to be able to provide information to the sector and to allow for interaction as needed. We welcome questions and engagement so that the task of managing compliance around the AML /ATF legislation is robust and clear.
With Regards,
Christine Patton - Chairman
Designation of Board
Published: 15 August 2012
On August 15, 2012 a Commencement Day Notice was published in the Bermuda Sun, bringing into effect Regulation 4(b) of the Proceeds of Crime Regulations (Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing) Regulations 2008 (the "Regulations").
This extends application of the Regulations to include regulated professional firms (barristers and accountants).
Also on August 15, 2012, a Designation Order was published in the Bermuda Sun that designated the Board as the supervisory authority of regulated professional firms.
June 2018 Newsletter
Published: 21 June 2018
Click here for our current newsletter highlighting the work of the Board as we prepare for the CFATF 2018 Mutual Evaluation.
Message from the Supervisor
Published: 09 October 2018
A message from the Barristers & Accountants AML/ATF Board Supervisor regarding the recent Mutual Evaluation:
The Assessors have now held their closing meeting with representatives from the Government , NAMLC and the Board . As with the interviews themselves, the tone was open and professional. The Private Sector involvement was called out as being “forthcoming, friendly and providing all the information that was requested. The interviews were positive, and a constructive dialogue”.
We now move into the next phase of the assessment methodology, which is the report drafting, review and finalization phase. We expect the first draft of our report on 16th November, with our response due back by 17th December. The assessors will then create their second draft, which will be provided both to Bermuda and to a team of reviewers under the wider FATF umbrella, as part of FATF's process to ensure quality and consistency in these reviews. A third draft is then produced and reviewed, which, based on current timelines for this process, would allow for the report to be presented to the CFATF Plenary next May. Per the current schedule, Bermuda’s report could then be presented to the full FATF Plenary in October next year for subsequent finalization and publication.
It is possible that in this review process we may need to reach out to some of you to assist with our comments and feedback. Thank you in advance for your assistance to ensure Bermuda continues to fully engage in this assessment process.
Please pass this message on to the other members of your respective teams who may not be copied on this email correspondence.
Thank you all once again.
Kim N. Wilson Supervisor
Message from the Supervisor
Published: 09 October 2018
A message from the Barristers & Accountants AML/ATF Board Supervisor regarding the recent Mutual Evaluation:
The Assessors have now held their closing meeting with representatives from the Government , NAMLC and the Board . As with the interviews themselves, the tone was open and professional. The Private Sector involvement was called out as being “forthcoming, friendly and providing all the information that was requested. The interviews were positive, and a constructive dialogue”.
We now move into the next phase of the assessment methodology, which is the report drafting, review and finalization phase. We expect the first draft of our report on 16th November, with our response due back by 17th December. The assessors will then create their second draft, which will be provided both to Bermuda and to a team of reviewers under the wider FATF umbrella, as part of FATF's process to ensure quality and consistency in these reviews. A third draft is then produced and reviewed, which, based on current timelines for this process, would allow for the report to be presented to the CFATF Plenary next May. Per the current schedule, Bermuda’s report could then be presented to the full FATF Plenary in October next year for subsequent finalization and publication.
It is possible that in this review process we may need to reach out to some of you to assist with our comments and feedback. Thank you in advance for your assistance to ensure Bermuda continues to fully engage in this assessment process.
Please pass this message on to the other members of your respective teams who may not be copied on this email correspondence.
Thank you all once again.
Kim N. Wilson Supervisor
N. Wilson appointed Supervisor
Published: 14 April 2011 The Barristers and Accountants AML/ATF Board is pleased to announce the appointment of Kim N. Wilson as Supervisor, effective April 1, 2013. Kim Wilson served as the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of Bermuda between 2007-2010 & 2011-2012. In that role, she provided oversight and policy direction for all legislative and regulatory matters associated with money laundering and terrorist financing.
Ron Shaw, Chairman, said “Kim Wilson joins us as supervisor at a critical time as we develop and implement our program to monitor the compliance of barristers and accountants that carry on regulated business with Bermuda’s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing legislation. I believe her previous experience will be invaluable in effectively implementing our program.” Kim Wilson said " I am excited to have been selected to work with both the Board and the Regulated Professional Firms in the development and implementation of a compliance program related to money laundering and terrorist financing." She went on to say, "This is a great opportunity to actually implement the legislative framework that I promoted and introduced into law."
New Link Added
Published: 21 June 2018
A new link, directing users to the Bermuda Government's National Anti-Money Laundering Committee (NAMLC) web page for International Sanctions has been added under the 'Useful Links' heading. Please ensure you staying up-to-date on the latest information published by NAMLC regarding these Sanctions.
Town Hall Meeting
Published: 24 November 2017
The Barristers & Accountants AML/ATF Board will be holding a Town Hall Meeting to discuss Legislative and Bar Association & CPA Rules proposals Risk Based Assessments of Regulated Firms.
