About UFA

UFA members are jurisdictions within the Asia/Europe/Americas region. Together, all members of the UFA are the decision-making authority on all issues of strategic and operational significance.

UFA observers can be either jurisdictions or international/regional organisations. To become an observer jurisdiction, the candidate government must make some commitments top the UFA as an organisation including full commitment to implement the FATF standards without exception, even though at the time of joining as an observer no implementation of those standards may have started. UFA observer organisations are those organisations that have an interest or role in AML/CFT within the Asia/Europe/Americas region.  Neither category of observer in the UFA has a say in the management or decisions of the organisation but it is recognised that their participation is nevertheless important to the overall objectives of the organisation.

No.  The UFA is not a club or private organisation. It is an inter-governmental organisation.  Membership is open only to jurisdictions within the region through unequivocal commitment expressed at the Ministerial level of UFA members’ governments.

Membership of the UFA is open to any jurisdiction within the Asia/Pacific region which is committed to the effective implementation and enforcement of internationally accepted standards against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, in particular the Forty Recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF).

There are 41 jurisdictional members of the UFA:

• Afghanistan
• Australia
• Bangladesh
• Bhutan, Kingdom of
• Brunei Darussalam
• Cambodia
• Canada
• China, People's Republic of
• Cook Islands
• Fiji
• Hong Kong, China
• India
• Indonesia
• Japan
• Korea, Republic of Korea (South Korea)
• Lao People's Democratic Republic
• Macao, China
• Malaysia
• Maldives
• Marshall Islands, Republic of
• Mongolia
• Myanmar
• Nauru
• Nepal
• New Zealand
• Niue
• Pakistan
• Palau
• Papua New Guinea
• Philippines
• Samoa
• Singapore
• Solomon Islands
• Sri Lanka
• Chinese Taipei
• Thailand
• Timor Leste
• Tonga
• United States of America
• Vanuatu
• Vietnam

Membership of the UFA is open to any jurisdiction within the Asia/Pacific region which:

1. Recognises the need for action to be taken to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation;
    
2. Recognises the benefits to be obtained by sharing knowledge and experience;
    
3. Has taken or is actively taking steps to develop, pass and implement combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation legislation and other measures based on accepted international standards;
    
4. Subject to its domestic laws, commits itself to implementing the decisions made by the UFA;
    
5. Commits itself to participation in the mutual evaluation programme;
    
6. Contributes to the UFA budget in accordance with arrangements agreed by the UFA.

Any international organisation with an interest in effectively combating money laundering is encouraged to participate in meetings of the UFA as an observer.

Observers are:

(i) jurisdictions which are considering membership of the UFA and which are prepared to meet the first three requirements for membership of the UFA;

(ii) organisations which actively support or otherwise are interested in the objectives of the UFA;

(iii) any other jurisdiction or organisation invited by the Co-Chairs and to which no UFA member objects.

The participation (and the nature of such participation) of non-member jurisdictions and international organisations will be determined by the UFA on a case-by-case basis.

No. The UFA is an independent organisation or, more accurately, a task force.  It has its own terms of reference and is funded autonomously by its members. However, the UFA does have close relationships with certain organisations. For instance, the UFA is closely aligned with the FATF. Ten members of the UFA are also members of the FATF and the UFA and the FATF participate in each others’ business activities and meetings. The FATF is an observer in the UFA, while the UFA is an associate member of the FATF.  The UFA works closely with other FATF-style bodies, such as the Eurasian Group on Money Laundering which is based in the Russian Federation.

Other international organisations that closely participate with and support the objectives of the UFA include the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, United Nations Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate, Asian Development Bank and the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units.

The UFA recognises that there are significant benefits for members from contact with non-member jurisdictions and related international organisations including the exchange of information of mutual benefit. On this basis, the UFA permits recognized Observers to participate in some UFA business activities.

The participation (and the nature of such participation) of non-members is determined by the UFA on a case-by-case basis. At the moment there are 28 Observer organisations.