Glossary term
Wolfsberg Group
Subject: Financial Crime, AML/CFT Framework and Standards
The Wolfsberg Group is an association of major global banks that writes voluntary guidance and standards on managing financial crime risk, such as money laundering, sanctions and corruption.
Explanation
The group began in 2000 at a meeting of banks and Transparency International at Château Wolfsberg in Switzerland, where the first anti-money laundering principles for private banking were drawn up. It now includes about a dozen large international banks. Its papers cover correspondent banking, customer due diligence, sanctions screening, payment transparency, trade finance, anti-bribery and corruption, and the use of data. The group also publishes a questionnaire that many banks use to gather information from their correspondents. Its documents have no legal force, and the group is not a regulator or standard-setter in the way FATF is. Supervisors often read them because they show what leading firms see as good practice. A bank may cite Wolfsberg guidance when setting up policy. Its papers are free to read, and banks often borrow them to fill gaps that formal rules leave open.
Example
Before opening a new correspondent relationship, a regional bank sends the foreign bank the Wolfsberg questionnaire, which asks about ownership, licensing, controls, sanctions screening and the types of customers served. The answers are compared with the bank's own checks to decide on the risk rating.
Not to be confused with
- Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
- FATF is a governmental body whose standards countries enact. The Wolfsberg Group is a private bank association with voluntary guidance.