> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Lima Hosts the Hemisphere's Compliance Congress in September. The Caribbean's Best Performers Sit Outside the Body on Its Programme. - URL: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/lima-compliance-congress-caribbean-gafilat-2026/ - Published: 2026-08-30T17:31:17.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-13T05:15:01.000Z - Description: The World Compliance Association's tenth anniversary congress meets in Lima on 23 and 24 September. GAFILAT, the anti-money-laundering body on its programme, has eighteen members and no CARICOM state among them. - Author: Theon Alleyne - Tags: Compliance, Business, Analysis **Quick summary:** The World Compliance Association holds its tenth anniversary congress in Lima on 23 and 24 September, drawing more than 500 professionals from over 20 countries. The anti-money-laundering body on its programme, GAFILAT, has eighteen members and no CARICOM state among them. Barbados scores 68 on Transparency International's 2025 index, third in the Americas. By Theon Alleyne · 30 August 2026 The compliance profession of the Spanish-speaking world will fill the Lima Chamber of Commerce on 23 and 24 September. More than 500 people from more than 20 countries, two days of plenaries, an anniversary cocktail, and a streaming feed for everyone who cannot travel. It is a serious programme. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is sending an analyst from its public governance directorate. The Organization of American States is sending a procurement specialist. Amazon, Microsoft and PwC are all on the platform, and so is the president of Latin America's financial action task force. Barbados scored 68 on Transparency International's most recent Corruption Perceptions Index, behind only Canada and Uruguay in the whole of the Americas. Peru, which is hosting, scored 30. ## What is happening in Lima on 23 and 24 September? The tenth anniversary congress of an association whose seventeen offices sit in Spain, Andorra and Latin America. The [World Compliance Association](https://www.worldcomplianceassociation.com/?ref=lacaribenanews.com) holds its Congreso Mundial de Compliance y Lucha contra la Corrupción at the Lima Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber acting as partner to the event. The announcement, [carried by the Ibero-American responsibility publication Corresponsables](https://www.corresponsables.com/actualidad/lima-congreso-global-integridad-transparencia-compliance/?ref=lacaribenanews.com), describes the occasion as the tenth anniversary of "the main association in the field of regulatory compliance in the Spanish-speaking world." The association puts it in almost the same terms. Its own [international presence page](https://www.worldcomplianceassociation.com/presencia%5Finternacional.php?ref=lacaribenanews.com) states that the WCA "has a clear international vocation, with particular emphasis on Spanish-speaking countries." Its homepage calls it a red internacional de profesionales del cumplimiento, an international network of compliance professionals, and its Quiénes Somos page describes a non-profit international association. Both things are true at once, and the office list shows how they fit together. The WCA lists seventeen: Spain, Andorra, and fifteen across Latin America and the Caribbean, in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic and a committee in Venezuela. In the Caribbean basin that comes to two: the Dominican Republic, and the Venezuela committee in Caracas. Both are Spanish-speaking. Alba Lema, the association's international president, opens the congress alongside Mónica Huertas, who heads the Peru chapter. "It is a genuine satisfaction to be able to celebrate our tenth anniversary in Lima," Lema said in the announcement, "which reflects the importance and the truly international dimension the WCA has reached." ## Who is on the programme? Multilateral institutions, three of the largest companies in the world, and the standard setters. Frédéric Boehm, an analyst in the OECD's Public Governance Directorate, speaks on behavioural science and the building of ethical cultures. Helena Fonseca, of the Organization of American States public procurement programme, takes procurement across Latin America. Cristina Ritter, who runs governance and anti-corruption at the United Nations Global Compact, presents the principles of the new United Nations business integrity standard. Iván Martínez, the WCA's international vice president and co-founder, gives a keynote on ISO 53001, the management system standard for the Sustainable Development Goals that the International Organization for Standardization is bringing forward with the United Nations Development Programme. That standard is built to sit alongside ISO 37301, which is the compliance one, rather than to replace it. From the corporate side, Luis Soria, compliance project lead at Amazon, argues for moving the compliance officer away from a purely punitive role. Luis Plaza, Microsoft's compliance officer for Northern Europe, compares compliance in emerging and developed markets. Teresa Tovar, who leads the compliance practice at Echecopar, takes the board's role in internal investigations. Nancy Yong, a partner at PwC Peru, presents findings from the firm's 2026 global chief executive survey. Luis Soler, chief executive of ComplianZen, has the session on artificial intelligence agents applied to compliance. Arnulfo Espinosa, an ISACA Hall of Fame member, handles compliance exposure arising from cybersecurity failure. ## Which anti-money-laundering body is on the platform? GAFILAT, and its membership is the fact worth holding on to. Isabel Vecchio speaks on new directions in money-laundering prevention as president of the Grupo de Acción Financiera de Latinoamérica. She holds that office pro tempore for Panama, which carries the presidency through 2026, and she is technical secretary of Panama's national commission against money laundering at its Ministry of Economy and Finance. [GAFILAT](https://www.gafilat.org/index.php/es/espanol/18-inicio/gafilat/157-what-is-gafilat-3?ref=lacaribenanews.com) is one of the regional bodies in the Financial Action Task Force global network. It has eighteen members: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay. Not one of them is a member of the [Caribbean Community (CARICOM)](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/caribbean-community-at-53-2026/). The two Caribbean states in GAFILAT, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, are Spanish-speaking, and neither is in CARICOM. Haiti, which is in CARICOM, is not in GAFILAT either. ## Where does the Caribbean sit in that architecture? In a separate body, with its own membership, its own secretariat and its own evaluation cycle. The [Caribbean Financial Action Task Force](https://www.cfatf-gafic.org/member-countries?ref=lacaribenanews.com) has twenty-five members. All fifteen full members of CARICOM are in it. None of them is in GAFILAT. Its roll runs well past CARICOM. Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten are members, and so are Anguilla, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the British Virgin Islands. So is Venezuela. So is the United States of America. That last pair is worth sitting with, because it settles what the division is and is not. Venezuela scored 10 on the 2025 index, the lowest in the Americas, and it is a CFATF member. Uruguay scored 73, the second highest in the hemisphere, and it is a GAFILAT member. The line between the two bodies follows language and colonial history. It does not follow integrity, and it has never claimed to. What the CFATF membership does hold in common is an exposure. ## What is de-risking, and where does it land? On small countries with thin financial markets, which is most of this one. De-risking is what happens when a global bank decides that an entire country or class of customer is cheaper to drop than to assess. The World Bank, in [its standing brief on the practice](https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/financialsector/brief/de-risking-in-the-financial-sector?ref=lacaribenanews.com), describes global institutions "increasingly terminating or restricting business relationships with remittance companies and smaller local banks in certain regions," and treats the decision as commercial rather than evidential: correspondent banking is a low-margin, high-risk line of business. The brief names where it lands. "Smaller countries with limited financial markets are particularly vulnerable to de-risking practices," it states, "and we are seeing evidence of this, notably in the Caribbean region." A correspondent banking relationship is not one service. It carries cheque clearing, cash management, international wire transfers and trade finance. A jurisdiction that loses enough of them does not lose a convenience. It loses the ability to settle with the rest of the world in dollars. ## What do the corruption scores actually say? That the Caribbean is not where the region's measured corruption problem is concentrated. Transparency International's [2025 Corruption Perceptions Index](https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2025?ref=lacaribenanews.com) scores 182 countries and territories from zero to 100\. The Americas averaged 42\. Of the region's 33 countries, twelve have significantly worsened since 2012. Two have significantly improved. One of them is Guyana. | Country | CPI 2025 score | | ------------------ | -------------- | | Canada | 75 | | Uruguay | 73 | | **Barbados** | **68** | | United States | 64 | | Costa Rica | 56 | | **Guyana** | **40** | | Dominican Republic | 37 | | Colombia | 37 | | Brazil | 35 | | **Peru** | **30** | | Mexico | 27 | | Haiti | 16 | | Nicaragua | 14 | | Venezuela | 10 | Barbados holds the third highest score in the Americas. Guyana, at 40, sits above Colombia, Brazil, Peru and Mexico, and is one of only two countries in the hemisphere that Transparency International records as significantly improved across thirteen years. The other is the Dominican Republic. Transparency International's account of Peru's 30 is specific: corruption in public services, including a scandal in which alleged bribes to bypass health inspections reportedly resulted in contaminated food reaching public schools. None of that is an argument about the congress, which is a professional gathering and not a league table. It is a description of where the hemisphere's compliance institutions are organised, set beside where its measured integrity problems are. ## What did the index say about the United States? That it recorded its lowest score ever, and Transparency International named the reason. The United States scored 64, described in the organisation's Americas statement as a sustained downward slide to its lowest score on record. The statement goes past the number. It cites "the temporary freeze and weakening of enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act" as signalling tolerance for corrupt business practices, and cuts to United States aid for overseas civil society as having weakened anti-corruption work abroad. Across six weeks this summer, [the Office of Foreign Assets Control ran three separate Cuban, Ecuadorean and Venezuelan designation actions](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/ofac-cuba-ecuador-venezuela-six-weeks-2026/). The instrument that polices American companies abroad was weakening. The instrument that designates foreign parties was not. Barbados, at 68, is four points above the United States on the same index. Both are members of the same Caribbean Financial Action Task Force. Only one of them has spent a decade explaining itself to correspondent banks. ### Text equivalent of the title card Every data point shown on the title image, with its source. - **Congress: 23 and 24 September 2026, Lima Chamber of Commerce.** Tenth anniversary of the World Compliance Association. **More than 500 professionals from more than 20 countries**, in person and by streaming. Source: World Compliance Association announcement, carried by Corresponsables, 14 August 2026. - **The World Compliance Association lists 17 offices**: Spain, Andorra and fifteen across Latin America and the Caribbean. **In the Caribbean basin, only the Dominican Republic and a Venezuela committee.** The WCA states it has "a clear international vocation, with particular emphasis on Spanish-speaking countries". Source: World Compliance Association, Presencia Internacional. - **GAFILAT has 18 members**, none of them a CARICOM state. Source: GAFILAT. - **CFATF has 25 members, including all fifteen full CARICOM member states**, plus Venezuela and the United States of America. Source: CFATF member countries list. - **CPI 2025 ranks 182 countries and territories. Americas average 42.** Source: Transparency International, Americas press release, 10 February 2026. - **Barbados 68, third in the Americas behind Canada 75 and Uruguay 73\. Peru 30\. United States 64, its lowest ever. Guyana 40\. Venezuela 10, the lowest in the region.** Source: as above. - **Only two countries in the Americas have significantly improved since 2012: the Dominican Republic (37) and Guyana (40).** Source: as above. - **Transparency International cites the freeze and weakening of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement** as signalling tolerance for corrupt business practices. Source: as above. - **The World Bank names the Caribbean** as a region showing evidence of de-risking, and describes correspondent banking as a low-margin, high-risk business global banks choose to exit. Source: World Bank, de-risking in the financial sector. ### Two bodies, one hemisphere | | GAFILAT | CFATF | | ------------------------------------ | ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Members | 18 | 25 | | CARICOM full members | none | all fifteen | | Also includes | Cuba, the Dominican Republic | Venezuela, the United States, the Dutch and British Caribbean territories | | Highest CPI 2025 score among members | Uruguay, 73 | Barbados, 68 | | Lowest CPI 2025 score among members | Nicaragua, 14 | Venezuela, 10 | | On the announced Lima programme | its pro tempore president | not named | ## Frequently Asked Questions What is the World Compliance Association congress in Lima? The Congreso Mundial de Compliance y Lucha contra la Corrupción, held at the Lima Chamber of Commerce on 23 and 24 September 2026\. It marks the association's tenth anniversary and is expected to draw more than 500 professionals from over 20 countries, with attendance available in person and by streaming. Is the Caribbean part of GAFILAT? No CARICOM member state is. GAFILAT's eighteen members are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay. All fifteen full CARICOM member states belong instead to the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, a separate body in the same Financial Action Task Force global network, whose twenty-five members also include Venezuela and the United States. How did Caribbean countries score on the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index? Barbados scored 68, the third highest in the Americas after Canada at 75 and Uruguay at 73\. Guyana scored 40 and is one of only two countries in the region that Transparency International records as having significantly improved since 2012\. The regional average was 42 and Peru, which hosts the congress, scored 30. What is de-risking, and why does it affect the Caribbean? De-risking is the termination or restriction of business relationships with whole countries or classes of customer in order to avoid risk rather than assess it. The World Bank describes it as a commercial decision, because correspondent banking is low-margin and high-risk, and states that smaller countries with limited financial markets are particularly vulnerable, "notably in the Caribbean region." A correspondent banking relationship carries cheque clearing, cash management, international wire transfers and trade finance. What is ISO 53001? A management system standard for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, developed by the International Organization for Standardization with the United Nations Development Programme and due in 2026\. It is built to be used alongside existing standards including ISO 37301 on compliance management, rather than to replace them. Iván Martínez, the World Compliance Association's international vice president and co-founder, gives the Lima keynote on it.