FATF President
Also written President of the FATF · FATF Presidency · FATF Vice-President
The senior official the FATF Plenary appoints from among its members to chair the Plenary and the Steering Group, serving a two-year term that runs from 1 July to 30 June.
In plain language
The FATF is a body of member countries, not a company. Somebody still has to run it.
That somebody is the FATF President. The President is a senior official appointed by the FATF Plenary from among its members — so the office goes to a person from a member country, chosen by the other members.
The job has three parts. The President chairs the meetings, both of the Plenary and of the Steering Group. The Secretariat works to the President's instructions, within whatever the Plenary has directed. And the President is the principal spokesperson who represents the FATF to the outside world.
The term used to be shorter. In April 2019 a revised Mandate extended it to two years. A term starts on 1 July and ends on 30 June two years later. The workbook does not say what the earlier term was.
So when a question asks who speaks for the FATF, the answer is a named individual with a fixed two-year clock — not a secretariat and not a committee.
How it works
The office (Chapter 8, section 8.1.1).
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Who appoints | The FATF Plenary, from among its members |
| Term length | Two years — the revised Mandate of April 2019 extended the Presidency to a two-year period; the workbook does not give the earlier term |
| Term dates | Begins 1 July, ends 30 June two years after assuming office |
| Chairs | The meetings of the FATF Plenary and of the Steering Group |
| Secretariat | The FATF Executive Secretary and Secretariat staff are responsible to and act under the instructions of the President, in accordance with any directions given by the Plenary, on all issues relating to the activities and function of the FATF |
| External role | Principal spokesperson for the FATF; represents the FATF externally |
The holders the workbook names.
- Elisa de Anda Madrazo of Mexico — President from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2026.
- Mr T. Raja Kumar of Singapore — her predecessor.
- Giles Thomson of the United Kingdom — Vice-President, who assumed the role on 1 July 2025.
The Vice-President. Also appointed by the Plenary from among its members, and assists the President in carrying out the President's responsibilities. Note that the Vice-President's start date of 1 July 2025 falls in the middle of the President's 2024–2026 term, so the two offices do not run on the same clock in the workbook's own text.
The body the President chairs. The Plenary is the FATF's decision-making body. It meets three times a year and holds countries to account where they do not comply with the Standards, including by naming a country a Jurisdiction under Increased Monitoring or a High Risk Jurisdiction.
One mandate figure not to mix up. The 2019 date attaches to two different things in the same section. In April 2019 the revised Mandate extended the Presidency to two years. In 2019 FATF Ministers also gave the FATF an open-ended mandate after three decades of time-bound mandates. Same year, two separate changes.
A worked example
Work the calendar, because that is what gets asked.
Elisa de Anda Madrazo's term. Begins 1 July 2024, ends 30 June 2026.
- Length = 24 months = 2 years, exactly as the revised Mandate of April 2019 provides.
- The Plenary meets 3 times a year, so a two-year Presidency chairs about 6 Plenary meetings.
Her predecessor. Mr T. Raja Kumar of Singapore. On the two-year pattern, a term ending on 30 June 2024 would have begun on 1 July 2022 — the workbook gives his country and the fact of succession, and does not print his dates, so do not answer with dates for him.
The Vice-President. Giles Thomson of the United Kingdom took office on 1 July 2025 — 12 months into the President's term, and 12 months before it ends.
Why it matters to a GIFT City compliance officer. Illustrative. Suppose the Plenary at its February meeting moves a jurisdiction to the grey list. A GIFT IFSC banking unit holding a USD 4.2 million trade exposure to a bank there must, under the IFSCA Guidelines, be cautious with respondents in jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies and apply enhanced due diligence proportionate to the risk. The decision is the Plenary's, taken at a meeting the President chairs and then announces as the FATF's principal spokesperson. The office is not ceremonial: the statement that changes a bank's file comes out under it.
Why NISM asks about it
Chapter 8 (Financial Action Task Force and Its Recommendations on AML and CFT), section 8.1.1, is devoted entirely to the office — appointment, term, the chairing duties, the Secretariat line of responsibility, the spokesperson role and the named holders. Section 8.1 immediately before it gives the Plenary as the decision-making body meeting three times a year, and section 8.1.2 gives the 2019 open-ended mandate.
This is pure recall, and the workbook prints the names and dates, which is a strong signal they are examinable: expect who appoints the FATF President (the Plenary, from among its members), how long is the term (two years, 1 July to 30 June), who is the President and from which country (Elisa de Anda Madrazo, Mexico), whom did she succeed (T. Raja Kumar, Singapore) and who is the Vice-President (Giles Thomson, United Kingdom, from 1 July 2025).
Common exam traps
- Appointed by the Plenary from among its members — not elected by a secretariat, and not nominated by the G7.
- Two years, and the extension came with the revised Mandate of April 2019. A term runs 1 July to 30 June. The workbook says the Mandate extended the Presidency to a two-year period and does not state the earlier term, so do not answer that it was one year.
- The workbook's named term ends on 30 June 2026 and it names no successor. Answer a "current President" question with the workbook's name and dates, because the exam is set from the workbook.
- The President chairs two bodies — the Plenary and the Steering Group. Naming only the Plenary is incomplete.
- The Secretariat answers to the President, not the reverse, and does so in accordance with directions given by the Plenary. The Executive Secretary is a different office from the President.
- Two different 2019 changes. April 2019: the Presidency becomes a two-year term. 2019: FATF Ministers give the FATF an open-ended mandate. Do not merge them.
- The Vice-President assists; he does not deputise on a matching clock. Giles Thomson's start date of 1 July 2025 sits inside the 2024–2026 Presidency.
- The Plenary decides; the President speaks. Grey-listing and black-listing are Plenary decisions, not presidential ones.
Where this is taught
Free preparation for NISM Series IFSCA-01Related terms
- FATFThe intergovernmental body founded in 1989 that writes the global AML/CFT standards — the 40 Recommendations plus IX Special Recommendations — and grey-lists or black-lists countries that fail them.
- FATF PlenaryThe FATF's decision-making body, meeting three times a year, which holds countries to account for non-compliance and can name them Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring or High Risk Jurisdictions.
- FATF StandardsThe FATF Recommendations together with their Interpretive Notes and the applicable Glossary definitions — the international AML/CFT/PF standard that more than 200 jurisdictions have committed to implement.
- FATF black listThe informal name for FATF's public statement of jurisdictions with serious strategic AML/CFT/PF deficiencies, on which FATF calls for enhanced due diligence and, in the most serious cases, counter-measures.
- FATF grey listThe informal name for FATF's list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring — countries working with FATF that have committed to fix identified strategic deficiencies swiftly within agreed timeframes.
- FATF Style Regional BodiesThe nine regional counterparts of the FATF — APG, CFATF, EAG, ESAAMLG, GABAC, GAFILAT, GIABA, MENAFATF and MONEYVAL — which with FATF form the global AML/CFT network; India belongs to APG and EAG.