Philippines exits global watchdog FATF grey list as anti-money laundering efforts pay off

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday announced it has removed the Philippines from the “grey” list of countries that are subject to increased monitoring, while adding Nepal and Laos to it.

The global anti-money laundering watchdog said the membership of Russia continues to remain suspended, Reuters reported.

What FATF said?

The FATF said the decision to remove Philippines from its increased monitoring came after a successful on-site visit.


In its statement, FATF congratulated the Philippines for making "positive progress in addressing the strategic anti-money laundering.” It has further lauded it for countering the "financing of terrorism and proliferation financing deficiencies previously identified during their mutual evaluations.”

Though it has now officially exited the “grey” list of FATF after almost four years, the Philippines has been urged to sustain improvements in its key measures.

The country had been a part of the list since June 2021.

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The FATF has also asked it to continue to work with Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) in order to sustain the progress made so far.

What is FATF's 'grey’ list?

The Financial Action Task Force has a compilation of a 'grey’ list of countries worldwide. These nations are subject to increased monitoring of financial transactions.

The countries have strategic deficiencies in systems to take on money laundering and terrorism financing, but remain active within FATF framework to address these issues, according to Business Mirror.

In total, the Paris-based organisation reviews wide range of efforts made by over 200 countries and jurisdictions to restrict money laundering and terrorism financing.

With the removal of the Philippines and addition of Laos and Nepal to the grey list, the total number of nations included in it stands at 25, AFP reported.

Among others mentioned in the list are Yemen, Nigeria, Bulgaria, Croatia, South Sudan, Haiti and Monaco.

According to the FATF, addition to the grey list means that the mentioned country commits to "implement an action plan to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes."

Besides this, global anti-money laundering watchdog also holds a "black list" of countries, which are considered high-risk jurisdictions. Among the ones included in this list are North Korea, Iran and Myanmar.

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As per the official FATF website, the global watchdog calls on members in countries identified as high-risk to apply enhanced due diligence, while in most serious cases, they are asked to apply counter-measures to protect international financial system from money laundering and terrorist financing and other issues.

FAQs

1. What is FATF?
The Financial Action Task Force leads global action in tackling money laundering, terrorist and proliferation financing.

2. When was FATF established?
Based in Paris, FATF was established in 1989.