Overview
- The FATF Plenary in Paris selected Vivek Aggarwal to serve as vice‑president for July 2026–June 2027, a decision announced after the June 17–19 meeting and marking the first time an Indian has held a top FATF leadership post.
- Aggarwal is a 1994‑batch IAS officer who has led India’s FATF delegation and the Financial Intelligence Unit‑India, giving him direct operational experience in anti‑money‑laundering and counter‑terrorist‑financing work.
- Plenary outcomes endorsed new FATF workstreams on technology‑enabled illicit finance, including virtual assets, digital payments, decentralised finance and hawala/underground banking, signaling a policy pivot toward regulating digital channels.
- The meeting also updated the FATF monitoring list by adding Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iraq to the grey list and removing Algeria and Namibia after they completed agreed action plans.
- India’s vice‑presidency builds on its 2024 mutual evaluation and is likely to boost New Delhi’s ability to shape FATF priorities, influence cross‑border cooperation and affect how private and public sectors share financial intelligence.