The Financial Action Task Force has opened a public consultation inviting banks, payment firms and crypto businesses to comment on draft guidance for putting its revised “travel rule” into practice, and the window closes on 21 August 2026. The exercise does not reopen the rule's substance, which was settled last year. It is about how the world is meant to apply it.
The consultation, opened on 24 June 2026, concerns Recommendation 16, the standard that requires information about the sender and the recipient to travel alongside a payment as it moves through the chain, so that institutions and authorities can trace funds and screen them against sanctions and fraud. The revisions to that standard were agreed in June 2025. On the table now is guidance to help countries and firms implement them before a hard deadline of 2030.
What FATF is asking about
The draft guidance targets the parts of implementation that are hardest in practice. FATF has asked for feedback on four areas: detecting and preventing misdirected payments, including the use of “alignment check” options under the revised standard; implementing the rule in a way that supports financial inclusion, including in lower capacity jurisdictions; how the requirements apply to newer payment methods such as digital wallets and mobile money; and how firms meet the obligations alongside their data protection and privacy duties.
FATF President Elisa de Anda Madrazo framed the goal plainly: “We want to ensure this new guidance is fit for purpose, and supports countries and financial institutions across the world in implementing the new ‘travel rule’ requirements by the deadline of 2030.”
The rules the guidance serves
The revised Recommendation 16 was adopted on 13 June 2025, with global implementation expected by the end of 2030. For cross-border transfers above roughly USD or EUR 1,000, it requires originator information such as name, account number and verified address details, and beneficiary information such as name, account number and country, with legal entities carrying an official identifier such as a Legal Entity Identifier. The data is meant to move in structured formats aligned with standards such as ISO 20022. Below that threshold, a reduced set of information applies, and verification is not required unless money laundering or terrorist financing is suspected. Card payments for goods and services remain outside the rule where the card number accompanies the transfer.
Why compliance teams should read the draft now
This consultation is the private sector’s main window to shape how the rule is operationalised, not just how it is written. The mechanics being decided now- the alignment checks, the handling of misdirected payments, the structured data expectations and the way all of it reconciles with privacy law- are the same mechanics that will drive systems, data format and screening changes inside regulated firms. The guidance that emerges is what supervisors will point to when they assess whether an institution is ready, and 2030 is closer than it looks for changes of this scale.
Crypto and new payment rails are in scope
The revised standard reaches virtual asset transfers, and the guidance deliberately addresses the rails that have grown up since the rule was first written, including digital wallets and mobile money. It also weighs how the obligations should apply without shutting lower capacity markets and their customers out of the formal system. FATF has said it particularly welcomes input from emerging economies and from civil society, not only from the largest institutions, on where the requirements are workable and where they are not.
How to respond
Comments are due by Friday 21 August 2026 and should be sent to FATF.Publicconsultation@fatf-gafi.org, under the subject line “Comments of [author] on the draft R.16 Guidance,” with the respondent’s organisation, nature of business and contact details. With the window closing in a matter of days and the compliance deadline fixed for 2030, the guidance taking shape now is the version of the travel rule that firms will be measured against.
