MANILA, Philippines — The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has retained the Philippines on its gray list for the third straight year as the country has yet to adequately address the gaps in its regime to counter money laundering as well as terrorist and proliferation financing.
Outgoing FATF president T. Raja Kumar said in a hybrid press conference after the conclusion of the three-day plenary held in Singapore that the Philippines and 20 other countries are in the gray list.
While taking steps toward improving its AML/CFT regime, Kumar said the Philippines, which entered the gray list in June 2021, still has to address deficiencies in its anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) controls.
“The Philippines has actually taken action on 15 of the 18 action items that it needed to act on,” he said.
He also noted that an official from the Philippines was present during the FATF’s plenary, demonstrating the country’s strong political commitment to essentially continue its progress on anti-money laundering.
“However the Philippines should quickly address the remaining three action items,” he said.
He said the Philippines needs to implement controls to mitigate risks associated with casino junkets.
The FATF is urging the Philippines to swiftly implement its action plan to address the strategic deficiencies as soon as possible as all deadlines expired in January 2023.
The country made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering to strengthen the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime after it was re-included in the gray list in June 2021.
In its report, the FATF acknowledged that the Philippines has strengthened its AML/CFT regime.
The country has demonstrated an increase in money laundering investigations and prosecutions in line with risk, has enforced beneficial ownership transparency obligations and has improved law enforcement access to those beneficial ownership data records.
It also noted that risk-based supervision of designated non-financial business and professions (DNFBPs) in the country is occurring.
The Paris-based FATF re-included the Philippines in the gray list in June 2021 after the country failed a mutual evaluation by Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering.
The body had identified 18 deficiencies in the country’s measures against money laundering and terrorist and proliferation financing.
Aside from the Philippines, there are 20 other countries in the gray list including new entrants Monaco and Venezuela. Meanwhile, Jamaica and Türkiye were no longer subjected to increased monitoring by the FATF.
On the other hand, the black list or high-risk jurisdictions still includes the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran and Myanmar.
The FATF said the suspension of the membership of the Russian Federation continues to stand.
“We welcome FATF's recognition of the country's progress in strengthening its position in the global fight against financial crimes, even as we remain focused on addressing remaining action plan items,” said executive director Matthew David of the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
“The Philippines has actually taken action on 15 of the 18 action items that it needed to act on.”