On 29 April 2010, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published a report entitled, “Combating Proliferation Financing: A Status Report on Policy Development and Consultation” which is dated February 2010. The paper was prepared for FATF’s working group on terrorist financing and money laundering by its project team on proliferation financing.

The paper outlines the status of FATF’s policy development on proliferation financing.

One of the options outlined in the report is the following provisional definition of proliferation financing, which it is suggested should be the basis of any further work in this area:”… the act of providing funds or financial services which are used, in whole or in part, for the manufacture, acquisition, possession, development, export, trans-shipment, brokering, transport, transfer, stockpiling or use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their means of delivery and related materials (including both technologies and dual use goods used for non-legitimate purposes), in contravention of national laws or, where applicable, international obligations”

The report outlines additional policy options covering legal systems, targeted financial sanctions, responsibilities of financial institutions, channels for receiving information, and awareness and information sharing.

FATF committed to identifying and responding to new threats which affect the integrity of the financial system (such as proliferation financing) in its revised mandate which it published in April 2008

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