40 FATF 40 Recommendations
14

Recommendation 14 · Group D · Preventive Measures

Former: SRVI

Money or value transfer services (MVTS)

Recommendation 14 requires every country to license or register MVTS providers — natural and legal persons that provide money transfer services such as remittance houses, payment institutions and informal value-transfer systems (hawala, hundi) — and subject them to monitoring for AML/CFT compliance. Operators acting without authorisation must face effective sanctions, and agents must be subject to AML/CFT obligations or be included in the principal's compliance programme.

Who must comply?

  • Remittance and money-transfer companies (Western Union, MoneyGram, etc.)
  • Payment institutions and electronic money issuers
  • Informal value-transfer systems (hawala, hundi, fei chien) when they exist legally
  • Agents acting on behalf of MVTS principals

Key requirements

  1. 1

    Licensing or registration

    All natural and legal persons that provide MVTS must be licensed or registered. Identification must be possible — countries should know who is operating in the sector.

  2. 2

    Compliance with all relevant FATF Recommendations

    MVTS providers must comply with all FATF Recommendations applicable to financial institutions — CDD (R.10), record keeping (R.11), PEPs (R.12), Travel Rule (R.16), STRs (R.20), tipping-off (R.21), internal controls (R.18), etc.

  3. 3

    Effective monitoring

    Authorities must monitor MVTS providers for compliance with national AML/CFT requirements, with proportionate, dissuasive sanctions for non-compliance.

  4. 4

    Action against unauthorised operators

    Countries must take action — including effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions — against natural and legal persons carrying out MVTS without a licence or registration.

  5. 5

    Agent regime

    MVTS principals must maintain a current list of their agents accessible to competent authorities. Agents must either be subject to AML/CFT obligations directly or included in the principal's compliance programme — with the principal accountable for their conduct.

  6. 6

    Travel Rule compliance

    MVTS providers acting as ordering, intermediary or beneficiary institutions in wire transfers must comply with Recommendation 16 — capturing, transmitting and screening originator and beneficiary information.

Practical example

Example: regulating a Mexican remittance network

A US-Mexico remittance corridor moves USD 60B/year. The principal MVTS — a US-licensed payment institution — operates in Mexico through 8,000 paying agents (convenience stores, supermarkets, banks). Under R.14: the principal must register with the CNBV via its Mexican subsidiary or partner, maintain an updated agent list, ensure each agent has AML training, conduct CDD when paying out (especially above identification thresholds), screen each transaction against UN/OFAC/SHCP sanctions, and file suspicious-transaction reports through its compliance officer. Unregistered cash-pickup operators face fines and closure.

How Mexico implements it

Country-specific section in Spanish — Mexican regulatory references (LFPIORPI, CNBV, SAT, UIF).

México regula MVTS bajo dos vías paralelas según el modelo del operador:

Transmisores de Dinero — CONDUSEF / Banxico

Las empresas que envían y reciben dinero (remesadoras) deben registrarse como Transmisores de Dinero ante la SHCP (Lista Pública). Aplican normas de identificación de cliente, conservación 10 años y reporte a la UIF.

Instituciones de Tecnología Financiera (Ley Fintech)

Las IFPE (Instituciones de Fondos de Pago Electrónico) y las ITF de crowdfunding bajo la Ley Fintech aplican un régimen MVTS regulado por la CNBV con cumplimiento ALA/CFT integral.

LFPIORPI Art. 17 Fr. XII — Notarios y MVTS por cuenta de terceros

Cuando profesionales independientes gestionan transferencias por cuenta de clientes, pueden caer bajo Fr. XII de actividades vulnerables, con obligaciones de identificación y aviso al SAT.

Milestones

  1. 2001

    Special Recommendation VI on alternative remittance after 9/11

  2. 2012

    Integrated as Recommendation 14

  3. 2016

    FATF Guidance on de-risking and MVTS

  4. 2025

    October 2025 update tightens agent oversight expectations

Related Recommendations

Other Recommendations in Group D — Preventive Measures

9 R.9 Financial institution secrecy laws 10 R.10 Customer due diligence (CDD) 11 R.11 Record keeping 12 R.12 Politically exposed persons (PEPs) 13 R.13 Correspondent banking 15 R.15 New technologies & virtual assets 16 R.16 Payment transparency (Travel Rule) 17 R.17 Reliance on third parties 18 R.18 Internal controls & foreign branches 19 R.19 Higher-risk countries 20 R.20 Suspicious transaction reports (STRs) 21 R.21 Tipping-off & confidentiality 22 R.22 DNFBPs: customer due diligence 23 R.23 DNFBPs: other measures

Official citation

FATF (2012-2025), International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism & Proliferation, Recommendation 14, FATF, Paris, France. Last updated October 2025.

Read the official text on fatf-gafi.org