The Paris-based international watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) says it “urges the Philippines to swiftly implement its action plan to address… strategic deficiencies” relating to anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).
This was in order for the nation to be removed from the FATF’s so-called “grey list” of jurisdictions under increased monitoring.
Friday’s FATF statement coincided with the final day of six days of FATF Plenary and Working Group Meetings, held in Singapore. During the meeting, the watchdog decided to remove from its grey list Jamaica and Turkey, “for their significant progress in addressing the strategic AML/CFT deficiencies previously identified during their mutual evaluations.”
The Philippines was added to the grey list in June 2021. Jurisdictions on the FATF grey list can “experience a disruption in capital flows”, according to a research paper by the International Monetary Fund.
In a Friday update, the FATF called on the Philippines – a major regional jurisdiction for land-based and online gaming – to address outstanding issues “as soon as possible as all deadlines expired in January 2023”.
“When the FATF places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring, it means the country has committed to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring,” outlined Friday’s statement.
Matters to be addressed by the Philippines included “demonstrating that supervisors are using AML/CFT controls to mitigate risks associated with casino junkets”.
Other important elements were listed as: “applying cross-border measures to all main sea/airports including detection of false declarations of currency and confiscation action in line with risk; and demonstrating an increase in the prosecution of terrorist financing cases in line with risk”.
In January last year, the governor of the Philippine central bank said the country had been given a year extension – until January 2024 – to meet the financial standards needed to get off a risk list of the FATF.
In February this year, after that deadline passed, the Philippines’ Anti-Money Laundering Council issued a statement saying that government agencies had “commitment” to helping “strengthen the country’s anti-money laundering and combatting financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime,” including “mitigation of risks in casino junkets”.
