Barbados Extends AML Controls Beyond the Banking Sector

Barbados is preparing to strengthen the practical application of its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework ahead of its fifth international mutual evaluation, with the government emphasizing that controls must extend beyond banks and other financial institutions.

Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams addressed the issue in the Senate on September 23, 2026, during debate on the Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (Prevention and Control) Amendment Bill 2026. He said Barbados must maintain a regulatory system aligned with international standards and ensure that the country’s removal from major international financial blacklists and greylists is supported by continued compliance. The upcoming evaluation will examine whether the framework is effective in practice, rather than simply whether the necessary laws and institutions exist.

The legislative debate comes as Barbados prepares for the next stage of international scrutiny of its AML/CFT arrangements. The fifth-round mutual evaluation is expected to assess how well the country identifies and mitigates money laundering and terrorist-financing risks, supervises relevant sectors, and demonstrates that its rules produce effective results. A separate report on the Senate debate said an on-site assessment is scheduled for June 2027.

The government’s focus extends to designated non-financial businesses and professions, which can be exposed to illicit finance risks through services such as company formation, property transactions, legal representation, accounting and gaming. These sectors are subject to obligations that may include customer due diligence, record keeping, suspicious transaction reporting and regulatory oversight, depending on the applicable laws and sectoral requirements.

Barbados’ existing national risk assessment identifies several non-financial sectors as having material money laundering and terrorist-financing vulnerabilities. The assessment lists attorneys-at-law and corporate and trust service providers as very high vulnerability sectors, and real estate agents as high vulnerability. Accountants are listed as medium vulnerability, while dealers in precious metals and stones are classified as low vulnerability in that assessment. The report also notes that supervision of designated non-financial businesses and professions was less mature than the regimes administered by the Central Bank of Barbados and the Financial Services Commission at the time of the assessment.

The proposed amendments are intended to strengthen oversight and enforcement across the covered sectors. Reporting on the Senate debate said the legislation would give the Compliance Unit greater powers and formally establish the Chief Compliance Officer as its head, with direct supervisory responsibility for designated non-financial businesses and professions, including lawyers, accountants, real estate agents, dealers in precious metals or stones, and gaming operators. The changes would also address registration and accountability for practitioners operating in these sectors.

Abrahams reportedly told senators that authorities do not have a complete picture of which practitioners are operating in some regulated professions. The proposed registration provisions are intended to improve that visibility. Under the measures described during the debate, practitioners required to register with the Chief Compliance Officer who fail to do so could be prevented from practising. The Attorney General linked effective registration and supervision to Barbados’ ability to demonstrate that its AML/CFT regime is functioning as intended.

The bill would also introduce a more risk-based approach to supervision, directing regulatory attention toward higher-risk activities rather than applying the same level of scrutiny to every practitioner. It would increase penalties for certain failures, including breaches of record-keeping requirements and failure to report suspicious transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit. The reported proposals include administrative fines in place of criminal prosecutions for certain non-malicious compliance failures.

Alongside the AML/CFT amendment bill, senators considered the Financial Services Commission (Amendment and Validation) Bill. The accompanying measure is intended to strengthen the Commission’s regulatory powers, support compliance with international multilateral memoranda of understanding for cross-border information sharing, and validate fees collected under earlier orders.

The amendments are being considered in the context of international expectations that countries should demonstrate measurable outcomes from their financial-crime controls. The Financial Services Commission’s published AML/CFT/CPF framework for regulated financial institutions includes customer identification and beneficial ownership checks, periodic account reviews, and monitoring and reporting of suspicious transactions. Its guidance also points institutions toward relevant sector-specific guidance developed by the Financial Action Task Force.

The Senate debate also addressed how stronger compliance requirements could affect businesses and professional services. Independent Senator Andrew Niles raised concerns about the operational impact of regulation and urged the government to ensure that compliance requirements do not unnecessarily disrupt ordinary commercial activity. He questioned how the measures would translate into practical requirements for businesses and individuals across the country.

In response, Abrahams said the government would conduct consultations and public information activities with affected sectors to support implementation. He indicated that stakeholder engagement would form part of the preparation for the mutual evaluation, during which assessors are expected to meet with relevant participants in the regulated sectors.

Barbados’ preparations therefore involve both legislative changes and the demonstration of effective supervision. The coming evaluation will consider not only the formal scope of the country’s laws and regulatory institutions, but also how the system operates across financial institutions and non-financial professions. The government’s stated objective is to maintain compliance with international requirements following the country’s exit from major financial monitoring lists and to demonstrate that its controls are delivering effective results.

By fLEXI tEAM