New RUSI Taskforce on a Trans-Atlantic Response to Illicit Finance (TARIF)

7 Jun 2021 04:32 PM

Both the UK and US leadership kicked off 2021 with commitments to tackle global illicit finance. Yet how this will translate into action remains unclear. RUSI’s new taskforce will provide much-needed input into the policy debate at this crucial time.

RUSI’s Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies has established a ‘Track 2’ (non-government) Task Force on the Trans-Atlantic Response to Illicit Finance (TARIF) to run for 12 months. The TARIF aims to strengthen global democracy by identifying viable ways in which the UK and US can combine efforts in tackling illicit finance.

Tom Keatinge, Director of RUSI’s Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies, said: “We welcome the renewed energy on this issue from both sides of the Atlantic and are seizing the moment to help make meaningful progress in the fight against global illicit finance. We’ve assembled a diverse and experienced group and I look forward to finding innovative and practical ideas that can inspire real change.”

Paul Massaro, Policy Advisor, Helsinki Commission yesterday said:

“This taskforce comes at a critical time, following the formation of the Counter-Kleptocracy Caucus in Congress and the President’s declaration that corruption is a “core national security interest.” Now we need to pull in our allies and work together to dismantle offshore finance and authoritarian kleptocracy—I am confident the Taskforce’s recommendations will be crucial to making this happen and I’m so pleased to be a part of it.”   

The group of experts and practitioners from both sides of the Atlantic will examine the illicit finance threats affecting both countries and the international community; and consider the tools and responses that a transatlantic partnership could most effectively facilitate.

Further information, including members of the TARIF, can be found here: https://www.rusi.org/projects/taskforce-transatlantic-response-illicit-finance