Philippines to stay on the FATF’s ‘grey list’ in spite of some improvement
The international physique that grades countries’ efforts at helping to prevent cash laundering and the financing of terrorism has reportedly announced that the Philippines is to remain on its ‘grey list’ of monitored jurisdictions.
According to a report from GGRAsia, the Monetary Action Activity Force (FATF) utilised an official Friday filing to detail that the Philippines has been on its ‘grey list’ of jurisdictions since June right after failing to demonstrate proper anti-funds laundering and terrorism financing controls with regards to nearby casino junket operators. The source explained that this move had the impact of creating it far more challenging for the archipelagic nation of some 107 million people to attract foreign sources of investment and capital.
Peripheral progress:
The FATF reportedly acknowledged that the Philippines has ‘taken measures towards enhancing’ its anti-income laundering protocols given that final summer and had even met some subsequent targets ‘ahead of any relevant deadlines.’ However, the Paris-headquartered organization purportedly additionally stated that the Asian country is to be obliged to ‘continue to perform to implement its action program’ before it can leave a club that also contains the likes of Yemen, Pakistan, Myanmar and Albania.
Octuple operations:
Following a 3-day plenary meeting, the FATF reportedly went on to list eight areas exactly where the Philippines wants to do much more in order to escape the ‘grey list’ classification. These purportedly included a requirement for the nation to demonstrate progress towards the implementation of anti-income laundering and terrorism financing controls ‘to mitigate dangers connected with casino junkets.’
Positive pledge:
Manila-headquartered newspaper BusinessWorld reportedly cited the head of the Philippines’ Anti-Funds Laundering Council, Mel Georgie Racela, as proclaiming that his organization and the FATF will now ‘continue to work collectively’ to overcome these deficiencies. The watchdog purportedly went on to assert that he was committed to strengthening the Philippines’ anti-income laundering and terrorism financing policies so as to be in a position to show ‘progress towards effectiveness.’
Accountable remit:
Racela reportedly in addition divulged that the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCor) casino regulator is to now be the relevant agency charged with implementing a new action plan for the a lot more successful supervision of junket operators. This purportedly comes some 15 months right after federal legislators approved amendments to the nation’s Anti-Funds Laundering Act of 2001 that added Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) and their ‘service providers’ to the list of ‘covered persons’ so as to make them answerable to the Anti-Income Laundering Council.
Reportedly study a statement from Racela…
“PAGCor is at the moment identifying the dangers posed by junket operations and will subsequently implement necessary measures to mitigate these risks.”
