**Anti-Terrorism Initiative**
Last year, the Financial Action Task Force introduced 8 Special Recommendations which, when combined with its Forty Recommendations on money laundering, set out the basic framework to detect, prevent and suppress the financing of terrorism and terrorist acts.
The FATF now proposes to add an interpretative note to Recommendation #7, developed to detect and prevent criminals from having access to all forms of electronic fund transfers.
Special Recommendation #7 states:
*”Countries should take measures to require financial institutions, including money remitters, to include accurate and meaningful originator information (name, address and account number) on funds transfers and related messages that are sent, and the information should remain with the transfer or related message through the payment chain. Countries should take measures to ensure that financial institutions, including money remitters, conduct enhanced scrutiny of and monitor for suspicious activity funds transfers which do not contain complete originator information (name, address and account number).”*
Financial firms are being asked to increase their due diligence and improve originator information on wire transfers, with jurisdictions expected to monitor the compliance of financial firms with fund transfer regulations and seek criminal sanctions against those which do not. *(See Proposal for Interpretative Note attached)*
In a recent interview with *Complinet*, FATF Executive Secretary Patrick Moulette, is reported to have said that it is clear terrorists involved in the September 11 attacks used wire transfers to move money, and hence the inclusion of Special Recommendations relating to this. *”Since then we have assessed the implementation of the special recommendations by FATF members and we discovered that some of the special recommendations needed clarification.”*
**Input Invited**
The FATF has invited comments on these issues, to be submitted by November 30, 2002.