KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) Governor, Brian Wynter, says proposed safeguards against money laundering and terrorism financing are among notable developments emerging under the Government’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS), since its launch in March 2017.

The strategy is an ambitious portfolio of project activities designed to empower Jamaicans financially, through improved access to financial information and products tailored to meet their needs.

Speaking at a recent NFIS forum at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St  Andrew, Wynter said the policy proposals,  including enhanced ‘Know Your Customer  requirements, seek to institute a risk-based framework for the Government’s Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Programme.

This, he said, will ensure that “our system is not hospitable to crimes of money laundering and financing terrorism”.

Wynter, who heads the  Financial Inclusion Steering Committee, which is coordinating implementation of the strategy,  pointed out that the risk-based framework will enable individuals who have been excluded or are underserved by the financial system, “merely because, for example, they may lack a formal proof of address”, to use financial products available in Jamaica.

 “Small things can have enormous consequences in the lives of Jamaicans… and [these] policy proposals, once adapted into the anti-money laundering framework… [are] aimed at, at least, helping us to remove [the obstacles] so that access is not impeded for the excluded and underserved,” he contended.

Wynter said another notable engagement under the NFIS, is development of the National Financial Literacy Action Plan and Interim Strategy by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, which, he pointed out, “promises to be a very important programme”.