Mexico - FATF-GAFI.ORG

1 Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures Mexico Mutual Evaluation Report January 2018. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an independent inter-governmental body that develops and promotes policies to protect the global financial system against money laundering , terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The FATF Recommendations are recognised as the global anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF). standard. For more information about the FATF, please visit the website: The Financial Action Task Force of Latin America (GAFILAT) is a regionally based inter- governmental organization that gathers 17 countries from South America, Central America and North America in order to combat money laundering and terrorist financing by means of a commitment for continuous improvement of the national policies against both scourges, and the enhancement of different cooperation mechanisms among its member countries.

2 For more information about GAFILAT, please visit the website This document and/or any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. This assessment was adopted by the FATF at its November 2017 Plenary meeting. Citing reference: FATF and GAFILAT (2018), Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures - Mexico , Fourth Round Mutual Evaluation Report, FATF, Paris 2018 FATF/OECD and GAFILAT.

3 All rights reserved. No reproduction or translation of this publication may be made without prior written permission. Applications for such permission, for all or part of this publication, should be made to the FATF Secretariat, 2 rue Andr Pascal 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France (fax: +33 1 44 30 61 37 or e-mail: CONTENTS. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .. 3. Key Findings .. 3. Risks and General 5. Overall Level of Effectiveness and Technical Compliance ..5. Priority 11. Effectiveness & Technical Compliance Ratings .. 13. MUTUAL EVALUATION REPORT.)

4 15. Preface .. 15. CHAPTER 1. ML/TF RISKS AND CONTEXT .. 17. ML/TF Risks and Scoping of Higher-Risk Issues .. 17. Materiality .. 22. Structural Elements .. 23. Background and other Contextual Factors .. 24. CHAPTER 2. NATIONAL AML/CFT POLICIES AND 35. Key Findings and Recommended Actions .. 35. Immediate Outcome 1 (Risk, Policy and Coordination) .. 36. CHAPTER 3. LEGAL SYSTEM AND OPERATIONAL ISSUES .. 41. Key Findings and Recommended Actions .. 41. Immediate Outcome 6 (Financial intelligence ML/TF).. 43. Immediate Outcome 7 (ML investigation and prosecution).

5 59. Immediate Outcome 8 (Confiscation) .. 66. CHAPTER 4. TERRORIST FINANCING AND FINANCING OF PROLIFERATION .. 77. Key Findings and Recommended Actions .. 77. Immediate Outcome 9 (TF investigation and prosecution) .. 78. Immediate Outcome 10 (TF preventive measures and financial sanctions) .. 80. Immediate Outcome 11 (PF financial sanctions) .. 84. CHAPTER 5. PREVENTIVE 87. Key Findings and Recommended Actions .. 87. Immediate Outcome 4 (Preventive Measures).. 88. CHAPTER 6. SUPERVISION .. 103. Key Findings and Recommended Actions.

6 103. Immediate Outcome 3 (Supervision) .. 104. CHAPTER 7. LEGAL PERSONS AND ARRANGEMENTS .. 121. Key Findings and Recommended Actions .. 121. Immediate Outcome 5 (Legal Persons and Arrangements) .. 122. CHAPTER 8. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION .. 129. Key Findings and Recommended Actions .. 129. Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures in Mexico 2018. 1. Immediate Outcome 2 (International Cooperation) .. 130. TECHNICAL COMPLIANCE ANNEX .. 142. Recommendation 1 Assessing Risks and Applying a Risk-Based Approach.

7 142. Recommendation 2 National Cooperation and Coordination .. 145. Recommendation 3 Money laundering Offence .. 147. Recommendation 4 Confiscation and Provisional 149. Recommendation 5 Terrorist Financing Offence .. 150. Recommendation 6 Targeted Financial Sanctions Related to Terrorism and Terrorist Financing .. 152. Recommendation 7 Targeted Financial Sanctions Related to Proliferation .. 158. Recommendation 8 Non-profit 161. Recommendation 9 Financial Institution Secrecy Laws .. 165. Recommendation 10 Customer Due Diligence.

8 165. Recommendation 11 Record-keeping .. 171. Recommendation 12 Politically Exposed Persons .. 173. Recommendation 13 Correspondent Banking .. 174. Recommendation 14 Money or Value Transfer Services .. 175. Recommendation 15 New Technologies .. 176. Recommendation 16 Wire Transfers .. 176. Recommendation 17 Reliance on Third 178. Recommendation 18 Internal Controls and Foreign Branches and Subsidiaries .. 180. Recommendation 19 Higher-risk Countries .. 181. Recommendation 20 Reporting of Suspicious Transaction .. 181. Recommendation 21 Tipping-off and Confidentiality.

9 183. Recommendation 22 DNFBPs: Customer Due Diligence .. 184. Recommendation 23 DNFBPs: Other 189. Recommendation 24 Transparency and Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons .. 190. Recommendation 25 Transparency and Beneficial Ownership of Legal Arrangements .. 193. Recommendation 26 Regulation and Supervision of Financial Institutions .. 194. Recommendation 27 Powers of Supervisors .. 197. Recommendation 28 Regulation and Supervision of DNFBPs .. 198. Recommendation 29 Financial Intelligence 200. Recommendation 30 Responsibilities of law enforcement and investigative authorities.

10 203. Recommendation 31 Powers of Law Enforcement and Investigative Authorities .. 206. Recommendation 32 Cash Couriers .. 208. Recommendation 33 Statistics .. 212. Recommendation 34 Guidance and Feedback .. 213. Recommendation 35 214. Recommendation 36 International Instruments .. 216. Recommendation 37 Mutual Legal Assistance .. 216. Recommendation 38 Mutual Legal Assistance: Freezing and Confiscation .. 218. Recommendation 39 Extradition .. 219. Recommendation 40 Other Forms of International 220. Summary of Technical Compliance Key Deficiencies.