Shell bank means a bank that has no physical presence in the country in which it is incorporated and licensed, and which is unaffiliated with a regulated financial group that is subject to effective consolidated supervision.
Physical presence means meaningful mind and management located within a country. The existence simply of a local agent or low level staff does not constitute physical presence.
[Ref: FATF (2012-2019), International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism & Proliferation, FATF, Paris, France]
