The Office of Global Affairs leverages its regional and technical expertise and engagements with foreign and interagency partners to develop, coordinate, and execute Treasury-wide strategies and policies that deter and disrupt illicit finance threats that originate outside the United States, in order to protect U.S. national security and the U.S. financial system.
Global Affairs Offices
Middle East
Since the inception of TFFC, countering illicit finance networks in the Middle East has been a key national security priority. The Middle East office has been TFI’s focal point for coordinating policies that mitigate terrorist financing risks from this region, working with our allies to strengthen their anti-money laundering regimes, and advancing our understanding of regional illicit financing typologies.
The Middle East office engages with a range of stakeholders to accomplish this mission, working with counterparts across the U.S. Government to deepen our understanding of terrorist financing networks, interacting with key Middle East partners to coordinate efforts to counter terrorist financiers, money launderers, and corrupt actors, and working with the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF), the region’s FATF-Style Regional Body (FSRBs), to maintain a dialogue with the private sector actors to foster a mutual understanding of effective AML/CFT/CPF policies.
Africa/Western Hemisphere
TFFC engages across Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, identify emerging illicit finance risks, strengthen AML/CFT/CPF regimes, and share technical expertise on illicit finance issues. Gaps in financial oversight and regulation create challenges across much of Africa, which allows for a permissive environment for money laundering, terrorism financing, and corruption, and constraining financial development and integration with the global financial system. These challenges in turn perpetuate many of the continent’s security challenges. In the Western Hemisphere, TFFC’s efforts include working with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador) to address corruption and illicit finance that undermine security and democratic government.
TFFC works closely with the four FSRBs active in Africa, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), and Latin America Financial Action Task Force (GAFILAT).
Europe/Eurasia
TFFC maintains a robust line of communication with European partners on illicit finance issues, given the close ties between the U.S. and European economies. These efforts serve the U.S. government’s broader strategic interests in Europe through coordination on sanctions and AML policy, including through joint actions and the pursuit of new authorities, such as on global human rights. This collaboration also advances strengthening regional AML/CFT frameworks, including in response to new financial technology, like virtual assets The team works closely with European governments who play key roles in multilateral organizations (including the two European FSRBs, Council of Europe Anti-Money Laundering Group [MONEYVAL] and the Eurasia Group).
Asia and Oceania
TFFC works to advance U.S. national security priorities across Asia by engaging with partners on coordinating sanctions related to terrorist and proliferation finance, advocating for the expansion of economic authorities to combat human rights abuse and corruption, and sharing information on regional illicit finance risk. The Asia team works closely with TFI components and the interagency on applying the full range of tools and authorities to counter illicit finance linked to foreign governments or criminal actors.
The United States is a member of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), the FSRB for the region, which provides a key forum for TFFC to work to hold countries across the region and the pacific accountable for necessary improvements in their AML/CFT/CPF regimes.
The Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC)
Organized under TFFC’s Office of Global Affairs, the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC) was created in 2017 to enhance multilateral efforts among the United States and the Gulf countries— Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE— to counter regional money laundering and terrorist financing networks. TFTC members counter these networks through three primary lines of effort:
- Identifying, tracking, and sharing information about terrorist financing networks;
- Coordinating joint disruptive actions; and
- Offering capacity-building training and assistance in countering the financing of terrorism.