At the end of its February meeting, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, removed the Philippines from its list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, making it the only country to be excluded in the latest round of assessment.
The exit from the FATF gray list wrapped up more than three years of efforts to remedy all 18 deficiencies in the measures against anti-money laundering (AML) and counterterrorism financing (CTF). Those deficiencies dragged the country back to the gray list in June 2021 and pushed it to the brink of being blacklisted, as it was in 2002 – which would have resulted in failed cross-border transactions, delays, and higher costs of remittances, which is a major lifeline for many Filipinos.
At a press conference on Friday night, FATF president Elisa de Anda Madrazo said the Philippines would still have to show that it could sustain the implementation of its AML/CTF reforms in a way that was “consistent” with the FATF standard. “The country will continue to work with the Asia-Pacific Group on money laundering and will start preparing soon for their next evaluation,” she added.
The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) said the country’s exit from the gray list would help it attract more job generating foreign capital, as the AML/CTF reforms could inspire investor confidence in the local financial system.
The industry group Fintech Alliance PH said the delisting would benefit fintech companies – those that offer digital financial services like GCash and Maya – other businesses and consumers.
The clear winners of the delisting are overseas Filipino workers, whose remittances are a major source of purchasing power in the country.
Malacañang said the delisting was a “well-earned, hard-fought” win by the country against money laundering and counterterrorism financing.
After all the pain and effort the country went through to get out of the FATF gray list, hopefully the sectors that are expected to benefit can make the most of it. At the same time, our officials still have to ensure the sustainability of the implementation of the reforms and safeguards that were put in place, because any slip up or regression would result in our return to the list, as the FATF can be very unforgiving in its quest to crack down on global money laundering and terrorism financing.*
