Designations are an important resource in TFI's prosecution of the war on financial terror. With them, TFI is able to freeze the assets of individuals and groups who seek out to commit terrorist acts, as well as those entities who attempt to support them. When examining individuals or organizations for potential designation, the United States works in conjunction with authorities from several other nations, and with international organizations, such as the European Union and the United Nations. For more, please visit Sanctions, OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals List and FinCEN's Advisories.
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an international policy-making and standard-setting body dedicated to combating money laundering and terrorist financing. Created by the G-7 in 1989 in response to a growing concern about money laundering, the FATF's mission is to monitor members' progress in implementing necessary measures, review money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and counter-measures, and promote the adoption and implementation of appropriate measures globally. Members of the TFI staff chair the U.S. delegation to the FATF, and it has been an important organization resource in centralizing efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The delegation, which also includes members of the Departments of State and Justice, the National Security Council, and federal financial regulators, develops U.S. positions, represent the U.S. at FATF meetings, and implement actions domestically to meet the U.S. commitment to the FATF. For more information, please visit
http://www.fatf-gafi.org/.
Protecting Charitable Organizations from terrorist abuse is a critical component of the global fight against terrorism. Charities provide essential services, comfort, and hope to those in need around the world. Unfortunately, terrorists have exploited the charitable sector to raise and move funds, provide logistical support, encourage terrorist recruitment, or otherwise support terrorist organizations and operations. This abuse threatens to undermine donor confidence and jeopardizes the integrity of the charitable sector, whose services are indispensable to the world community.
Hawala & Alternative Remittance Systems provide fast and cost-effective methods for worldwide remittance of money or value, particularly for persons who may be outside the reach of the traditional financial sector. In some nations hawala is illegal, in others the activity is considered a part of the “gray” economy. It is therefore difficult to accurately measure the total volume of financial activity associated with the system, however, it is estimated that the figures are in the tens of billions of dollars, at a minimum. The very features which make hawala attractive to legitimate customers (mainly expatriates remitting money to relatives in their home country) ---efficiency, anonymity, and lack of a paper trail---also make the system attractive for the transfer of illicit funds. On October 31, 2001 the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released the Eight Special Recommendations on Terrorist Financing which, when combined with the FATF Forty Recommendations on money laundering, set out the basic framework to detect, prevent, and suppress the financing of terrorism and terrorist acts.
Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP) was initiatived after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 to identify, track, and pursue terrorists – such as Al-Qaida – and their networks. Since that time, the TFTP has provided valuable leads that have aided in the prevention or investigation of many of the most visible and violent terrorist attacks and attempted attacks of the past decade.