In a critical step forward for Trinidad and Tobago’s efforts to align its financial regulatory systems with global anti-crime standards, President Christine Carla Kangaloo has officially enacted the final outstanding provision of landmark 2024 legislation designed to strengthen the country’s frameworks against money laundering, terrorist financing, and illicit financial activity.
The presidential proclamation, officially documented as Legal Notice No. 596 of 2026, was signed at the Office of the President in St. Ann’s on July 30, 2026, and formally set July 31, 2026 as the effective date for Section 10(d) of the Miscellaneous Provisions [Proceeds of Crime, Anti-Terrorism, Financial Intelligence Unit of Trinidad and Tobago, Securities, Insurance, Non-Profit Organisations, the Civil Asset Recovery and Management and Unexplained Wealth and Miscellaneous Provisions (FATF Compliance)] Act, 2024 (Act No. 17 of 2024). The official text of the proclamation confirms that after months of incremental implementation, the full scope of the 2024 legislation is now active across the country.
This latest proclamation builds on a series of regulatory updates rolled out by the Trinidad and Tobago government in late 2025, when President Kangaloo signed a slate of complementary FATF compliance bills into law. That November 2025 package brought into force all provisions of the 2025 Miscellaneous Provisions (FATF Compliance) Act, as well as Sections 10(a), 10(b) and 10(c) of the 2024 act, and select provisions of the 2020 Miscellaneous Provisions (FATF Compliance) Act. All of those earlier provisions took effect on November 17, 2025, following bipartisan passage through the country’s legislative branches: the 2025 act was approved without amendments by the House of Representatives on September 16, 2025, and confirmed by the Senate 10 days later on September 26, 2025.
The full package of legislative amendments updates seven core national laws, ranging from the Proceeds of Crime Act and Anti-Terrorism Act to the Non-Profit Organisations Act and Civil Asset Recovery and Management and Unexplained Wealth Act. When introducing the 2025 FATF Compliance Bill and companion Counter-Proliferation Financing Bill to the House of Representatives, Finance Minister Dave Tancoo emphasized the government’s unwavering commitment to rooting out corruption and illicit financial activity.
“This Government is not making joke in the fight against corruption,” Tancoo told lawmakers. The legislation introduces strict penalties for regulatory breaches, including fines of up to $1.75 million for violations by financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses.
A key groundbreaking change included in the new laws grants the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) explicit statutory authority to investigate tax-related offences for the first time in the country’s history. Tancoo explained that the new investigative powers will equip the BIR to effectively detect and deter tax evasion, a gap that had previously been flagged by global assessors.
The legislative updates also strengthen the enforcement capacity of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (FIUTT), granting the agency new tools including the ability to issue oral regulatory directives, impose meaningful penalties, and publish details of fines levied against non-compliant entities. Tancoo noted that these changes will transform the FIUTT from what had been perceived as a toothless regulatory body into an effective oversight body.
“Through this, he asserted that the FIUTT will not be ‘just a paper tiger, but it will be a strong, agile and effective watchdog’,” Tancoo said.
The minister added that global assessments had previously identified significant gaps in Trinidad and Tobago’s ability to combat tax evasion, which siphons critical revenue away from public services, erodes public trust in the fairness of the national tax system, and creates opportunities for more widespread illicit financial schemes. Full alignment with FATF standards, which require competent national authorities to have adequate investigative powers to counter money laundering and terrorist financing, is the core goal of the entire legislative package.