Global Standards
Who we are
The Wolfsberg Group is an association of 12 global banks which aims to develop frameworks and guidance for the management of financial crime risks.
Concrete hands-on guidance by practitioners,
for practitioners
Key Areas of Work
Working Groups
We produce guidance and standards to support the industry and other stakeholders in the management of financial crime risk.
Read moreCBDDQ & FCCQ
Developed and published by the Wolfsberg Group, the Correspondent Banking Due Diligence Questionnaire (CBDDQ) seeks to help Financial Institutions conducting due diligence on Correspondent Banking relationships, as per regulatory requirements and their own internal policies and procedures.
Learn moreLearn moreResources
Wolfsberg Response to the FBAs’ Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the AML Program Rule
Response to the Financial Stability Board’s (FSB) Consultations on Regulating and Supervising Cross-border Payment Services and Data Frameworks Alignment
Wolfsberg Response to the Consultation on FinCEN’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for the AML/CFT Program Rule
Wolfsberg Group Response to the UK's HMT Consultation on the MLRs
Wolfsberg Group Response to FATF public consultation on R.16/INR.16
Wolfsberg Group Principles for Auditing for Effectiveness
Wolfsberg Group on Countering Terrorist Financing
News
French translation of the updated Wolfsberg Group Payment Transparency Standards
The Wolfsberg Group has just published the French version of its 2023 Payment Transparency Standards. Discover the full press release and the translated document below. Where a perceived difference exists between the English language original and the translation, the English language version prevails.
Read moreAppointment of the next Executive Secretary to the Wolfsberg Group
The Wolfsberg Group announces today the appointment of its next Executive Secretary, J. Edward 'Ned' Conway, effective November 1st. Mr. Conway was most recently the Group Head of Financial Crime Compliance Framework and Policies at Banco Santander. His career in financial crime prevention began at the US Department of Defense, where he was a member of the Iraq Threat Finance Cell in Baghdad in 2007, and was then the resident threat finance analyst for a Special Operations Command Joint Task Force in Balad, Iraq, in 2009. In the private sector, Mr. Conway worked at PwC and Barclays before joining Santander. He collaborates regularly with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, training financial intelligence units and related government agencies in the Americas, East and West Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. He also chairs the UN’s Private Sector Dialogue on the disruption of financial crimes related to crimes that affect the environment. Mr. Conway is a member of the ACAMS Advisory Board and the co-editor of the volume Counterterrorism and Threat Finance Analysis During Wartime (2015). At Wolfsberg, where Mr. Conway has been a delegate since 2019, he led the working group that produced the Guidance on Digital Customer Lifecycle Risk Management, and he played a key role in updating the Group’s Payment Transparency Standards in 2022. Alan Ketley will retire from his role as Executive Secretary since assuming the position in 2021. The members of the Wolfsberg Group are grateful for Mr. Ketley’s leadership over an important period of transition for the Group and during a critical moment of regulatory reform across the US, UK and the EU. From Wolfsberg co-chairs Jen Calvery (HSBC) and Joe Salama (Deutsche Bank): “Over his tenure, Alan has been able to advance the Group's focus on effectiveness with key supervisory authorities across the globe. Existing standards have been updated to respond to current challenges, and new guidance released under his leadership has focused the Group's energy on emerging areas of interest, all while increasing the accessibility of the Group's work by facilitating translations into various languages beyond English. We wish him all the best as he takes a well-deserved break from his decades of dedication to effective financial crime compliance.” 
Read moreLocal industry association, Abracam, promotes use of the Wolfsberg Correspondent Banking Due Diligence Questionnaire in Brazil by translating materials into Portuguese
The Wolfsberg Group (the Group) is pleased to announce that the supporting guidance for the Correspondent Banking Due Diligence Questionnaire (CBDDQ) has been translated into Portuguese (see links below). The translation of the materials has been led by Abracam ([The Brazilian Exchange Association](https://www.linkedin.com/company/abracamcambio/)), a non-profit entity in Brazil which represents financial institutions authorised to operate in the Brazilian foreign exchange market, their correspondents, and companies supporting foreign exchange activities. The translation of the CBDDQ guidance into Portuguese complements previous translations of the guidance into French, Japanese and Spanish and represents the Group’s efforts in supporting the adoption of the CBDDQ across the world. The Wolfsberg CBDDQ has been recognised by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI), the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) as an industry initiative that can help address de-risking through the standardised application of KYC requirements. For Abracam, the translation of the CBDDQ supporting materials into Portuguese will help their joint initiative with other local industry associations, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Brazil in promoting higher standards in the Brazilian foreign exchange market by using the CBQQD as the underlying assessment framework. The Group’s Statement on Effectiveness makes clear that “an effective AML/CTF programme will also have the benefit of reducing friction on customers and helping governments with their objective of financial inclusion”. The initiatives from the Central Bank of Brazil, working through local industry partners like Abracam to support the use of CBDDQ as a common financial crime compliance framework, demonstrate this benefit in practice. The Group appreciates the leadership from Abracam in performing the Portuguese translation. The Wolfsberg Group is an association of 12 global banks committed to developing frameworks and guidance for the management of financial crime risks. The origins of the Group's CBDDQ date back to 2002, when the Group published its first Correspondent Banking Principles, in which the Group articulated its vision for, and encouragement and development of, an international due diligence registry for financial institutions. Since that time, what is now known as the CBDDQ has become the industry standard in correspondent banking due diligence.
Read moreWolfsberg Response to the FBAs’ Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the AML Program Rule
The Wolfsberg Group appreciates the opportunity to comment on FBAs’ Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the AML Program Rule. We strongly believe that a proposed rule that implements Congress’ intention for the AML Act has the potential to generate a paradigm shift to bring about more effective outcomes and better oversight of the financial system, thereby protecting people and communities from financial crime related threats. The best way to execute this vision is by allowing FIs to implement a flexible risk-based approach, such that resources are appropriately allocated to where risks are the greatest and where priorities have been identified. The Program Rule is the cornerstone of a new AML/CFT regime and there will need to be other changes necessary to realise its benefits – not least, revisions to the FFIEC Examination Manual, and the roll out of examiner training; we look forward to working closely with the FBAs on the next steps throughout this journey.
Read moreWolfsberg Response to the Financial Stability Board’s (FSB) Consultations on Regulating and Supervising Cross-border Payment Services and Data Frameworks Alignment
The Wolfsberg Group (the Group) is pleased to provide a response to the FSB’s consultations on Recommendations for Regulating and Supervising Bank and non-bank Payment Service Providers Offering Cross-border Payment Services, and Recommendations to Promote Alignment and Interoperability Across Data Frameworks Related to Cross-border Payments. The business of cross-border payments is core to many of our members and is more complex than may appear at first glance and we welcome the opportunity to be part of the dialogue on this topic and contribute our members’ expertise gained by through processing many millions of payments every month. As set out in previous publications, the Group believes strongly in the principle of ‘same business, same risk, same rules’ to ensure a level playing field across the different types of entities that facilitate cross-border payments and we welcome the issuance of clear guidance around the common practice of payment bundling for all parties involved that sets out clear roles and responsibilities for parties within the payment chain as they relate to bundled payments. All parties to a payment chain have obligations that should be explicit, including the payment market infrastructures or financial market infrastructures that are used to send payment information.
Read moreWolfsberg Response to the Consultation on FinCEN’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for the AML/CFT Program Rule
The Wolfsberg Group appreciates the opportunity to comment on FinCEN’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for the AML Program Rule. We strongly believe that a proposed rule that implements Congress’ intention for the AML Act has the potential to generate a paradigm shift to bring about more effective outcomes and better oversight of the financial system, thereby protecting people and communities from financial crime related threats. The best way to execute this vision is by allowing FIs to implement a flexible risk-based approach, such that resources are appropriately allocated to where risks are the greatest and where priorities have been identified. We look forward to working closely with FinCEN on the next steps throughout this journey.
Read moreCBDDQ/FCCQ Guidance Materials now available in German
The Wolfsberg Group is pleased to announce that the CBDDQ Guidance, the CBDDQ Glossary and the CBDDQ/FCCQ FAQs are now available in German. You can find the links to the each of these documents below. Wir freuen uns, Ihnen mitteilen zu können, dass die Leitfäden (FAQs, Glossar und Anleitung) des CBDDQ und des FCCQ nun auch ins Deutsche übersetzt wurden. Bitte beachten Sie, dass die deutschen Übersetzungen jeweils Referenzversionen der englischen Originaldokumente sind, um die Verwendung des weiterhin ausschließlich in englischer Sprache zur Verfügung gestellten CBDDQ zu erleichtern. Sollten Sie daher Abweichungen der deutschen Versionen zu den englischen Originalen feststellen, so genießen die englischen Sprachfassungen stets Vorrang.
Read moreApplying the Wolfsberg Correspondent Banking Due Diligence Questionnaire in Brazil
The Wolfsberg Group (the Group) has engaged with [Abracam](https://www.selo.abracam.com/) (The Brazilian Foreign Exchange Association) to better understand their proposal to introduce a process to validate local institutions’ responses to the Wolfsberg Correspondent Banking Due Diligence Questionnaire (CBDDQ), with the validation performed by an independent auditing company. This initiative has seen Abracam working alongside other local entities, highlighting the CBDDQ's comprehensive coverage of the essential aspects of an obliged entity’s financial crime compliance control framework. A key part of this collaboration has been the promotion of high standards in the foreign exchange market through the assessment and certification of the obliged entity’s AML program, which can be enhanced by the application of the CBDDQ – a market segment outside the CBDDQ’s original design. The Central Bank of Brazil recognizes the improvement in the AML programs that came with Abracam‘s initiative, marking a significant advancement in the country's efforts to combat financial crimes. The Group is an association of 12 global banks committed to developing frameworks and guidance for the management of financial crime risks. The origins of the Group's CBDDQ date back to 2002, when the Group published its first Correspondent Banking Principles, in which the Group articulated its vision for, and encouragement and development of, an international due diligence registry for financial institutions. Since that time, what is now known as the CBDDQ has become the industry standard in correspondent banking due diligence. The CBDDQ has been recognised by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI), the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) as an “effective and efficient tool to support due diligence processes” that “will help to address the decline in the number of correspondent banking relationships”. The leadership from Abracam, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Brazil and working with local industry associations, to promote an assessment of the information contained in the CBDDQ is a welcomed development in Brazil and in the wider region. The Group looks forward to continuing the dialogue with Abracam, industry associations, and key regulatory bodies in the region to further the principles set out by the Group on an effective financial crime compliance framework.
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