FATF Recommendation 11

FATF Recommendation 11 concerns record keeping and is one of the key measures in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

This recommendation requires financial and non-financial institutions to retain for at least five years all documents relating to transactions, both domestic and international. These documents must be sufficiently detailed to allow the reconstruction of individual transactions and to serve as evidence in the event of legal proceedings.

Institutions must also retain customer identification data, accounting records and business correspondence. This information must be promptly accessible to the relevant authorities upon request.

This retention obligation applies from the end of the business relationship or after the date of an occasional transaction. It allows investigators to follow the money trail and detect suspicious transaction patterns.

Recommendation 11 is crucial because it ensures the availability of evidence necessary for criminal investigations and facilitates international cooperation in the fight against financial crimes. Its rigorous implementation by institutions constitutes a fundamental pillar of the global anti-money laundering framework.