Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s finance minister, underlined India’s commitment to combating money laundering and terrorism financing on Friday, praising the efforts of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in preserving the global financial system.
Sitharaman said India was committed to giving the required resources and support to the Paris-based intergovernmental organisation in its fight against money laundering, terrorist financing, and the financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
During a conference held on the margins of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings in Washington, DC, Sitharaman backed the FATF’s strategic priorities for the years 2022-24. Strengthening the FATF global network, FATF mutual evaluation systems, enhancing international beneficial ownership transparency, increasing capabilities to more effectively recover criminal assets, leveraging digital transformation, and ensuring sustainable funding for FATF strategic priorities are among the strategic priorities.
“During the meeting, the Finance Minister reaffirmed India’s commitment to fighting Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Proliferation Financing and acknowledged and appreciated FATF on their work on Beneficial Ownership Transparency, Asset Recovery, and the role of FATF Global network in safeguarding the global financial system,“ the ministry of finance said in a release on Friday.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an intergovernmental organisation founded in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist funding, and other risks to the international financial system’s integrity. India is one of the 39 members so far.
Sitharaman is in Washington, DC for the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings, as well as meetings of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
FM Sitharaman also met with executives from major American corporations like FedEx, Mastercard, and Accenture to discuss investment potential in India, the world’s fastest-growing global economy. India is expected to develop at the quickest rate among major countries in 2022-23, according to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook report released on Tuesday.
Raj Subramanian, the president and CEO-elect of FedEx, informed the minister of the company’s considerable expansion ambitions in India, particularly in skilling. He went on to say that the corporation was looking into setting up R&D centres in India.
During her discussion with Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach, Sitharaman reaffirmed the government’s commitment to Digital Financial Inclusion, emphasising the importance of establishing world-class homegrown digital solutions for women and small and medium businesses. “FM Sitharaman enquired from Michael Miebach on how lessons from India’s Financial Inclusion programme can be used to develop solutions for the world,” the Ministry of Finance said in a tweet.
FM Smt. @nsitharaman enquired from Mr @MiebachMichael @Mastercard on how lessons from India’s #FinancialInclusion programme can be used to develop solutions for the world. (4/4)
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) April 22, 2022
Miebach informed the minister about the massive data centres the company has built-in India, as well as how it was focusing on small business training and digitisation.
