The Financial Action Task Force is a body put together by the G7 group of nations to combat money laundering. The Cayman Islands government expressed "astonishment" in June 2000 when it was included on a task force blacklist and described as non-cooperative in the fight against money laundering.

According to the managing director of the Cayman Monetary Authority, Mr John Bourbon, the islands were placed on the blacklist because the provisions in existence in the Cayman Islands in relation to "know your customer" and other anti-money laundering devices were codes of conduct rather than legal provisions. This is now being rectified by the Cayman authorities and they expect to be taken off the blacklist in the near future.

"Millions and billions of dollars are laundered around the world every year and there will always be cases cropping up, but the Cayman Islands is playing its part in the fight against international money laundering." Some Cayman banking sources complain that standards now expected on the islands are higher than those that exist in the US.