40 FATF 40 Recommendations
33

Recommendation 33 · Group F · Powers of Competent Authorities

Former: R.32

Statistics

Recommendation 33 requires every country to maintain comprehensive statistics on matters relevant to the effectiveness of its AML/CFT system: the number of STRs received and disseminated, ML/TF investigations and prosecutions, convictions, property frozen/seized/confiscated, and mutual legal assistance and other international cooperation requests handled. Statistics are not bureaucracy — they are the empirical basis for assessing whether the system actually works.

Who must comply?

  • FIU (STR statistics)
  • Prosecutors and courts (investigation, prosecution, conviction)
  • Asset-recovery offices (freezing, seizure, confiscation)
  • Central authorities for mutual legal assistance and extradition

Key requirements

  1. 1

    STR statistics

    Number of STRs received from each reporting sector, number disseminated to law enforcement, average time from receipt to dissemination, and follow-up actions taken.

  2. 2

    Investigation and prosecution statistics

    Number of ML and TF investigations, prosecutions and convictions; predicate offences underlying ML cases; sanctions imposed on natural and legal persons.

  3. 3

    Asset-recovery statistics

    Property frozen, seized and confiscated — by category (cash, real estate, financial instruments, virtual assets), value, and link to specific predicate offences.

  4. 4

    International cooperation statistics

    Mutual legal assistance, extradition, FIU exchange and supervisory cooperation requests — number sent, received, granted, refused, and average response times.

  5. 5

    Use of statistics for risk assessment

    Statistics must feed into the National Risk Assessment under Recommendation 1 — informing where threats are concentrated, where the system is succeeding and where it is failing.

  6. 6

    Public availability where possible

    Aggregate statistics should be published periodically — supporting transparency, public confidence and academic research, while protecting confidentiality of individual cases.

Practical example

Example: Mexico's UIF annual statistics

Mexico's UIF publishes annual statistics covering: number of ROR/ROI/ROIP received from financial institutions and avisos from vulnerable activities, intelligence packages disseminated to FGR/CNBV/SAT, response times, and (in aggregate) trends by sector and geography. The data feeds into the ENR 2025, which informs national priorities and the FATF Mutual Evaluation. Without these statistics, the FATF could not assess whether Mexico's AML/CFT system is operating effectively.

How Mexico implements it

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

México publica estadísticas a través de varias instituciones:

Informes anuales UIF

La UIF publica informes anuales con estadísticas de ROS, intercambio internacional y casos diseminados. Las estadísticas alimentan la ENR (publicada por la SHCP).

FGR — Estadísticas de procuración

La FGR reporta sobre averiguaciones previas y carpetas de investigación por delitos LD/FT, casos vinculados al Art. 400 Bis CPF y resultados de la Ley Federal contra la Delincuencia Organizada.

Indep — Bienes asegurados/decomisados

El Instituto para Devolver al Pueblo lo Robado publica estadísticas sobre bienes asegurados, en administración y decomisados — distribuidos a programas sociales tras enajenación.

Mutual Evaluation Reports (MERs)

El GAFI usa estadísticas mexicanas en su evaluación mutua. La próxima MER de México evaluará la efectividad del sistema ALA/CFT — y las estadísticas de la R.33 son la evidencia central.

Milestones

  1. 2003

    Original Recommendation 32 on statistics

  2. 2012

    Renumbered as Recommendation 33

  3. 2025

    October 2025 update emphasises virtual-asset and effectiveness statistics

Related Recommendations

Other Recommendations in Group F — Powers of Competent Authorities

26 R.26 Regulation of financial institutions 27 R.27 Powers of supervisors 28 R.28 Regulation of DNFBPs 29 R.29 Financial intelligence units (FIUs) 30 R.30 Law enforcement responsibilities 31 R.31 Law enforcement powers 32 R.32 Cash couriers 34 R.34 Guidance & feedback 35 R.35 Sanctions

Official citation

FATF (2012-2025), International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism & Proliferation, Recommendation 33, FATF, Paris, France. Last updated October 2025.

Read the official text on fatf-gafi.org