The Philippines remains on FATF grey list

The FATF said the Philippines should continue to work on implementing its action plan to address strategic deficiencies.

The Philippines.- The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has decided to keep the Philippines on its “grey list” of untrustworthy destinations for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT) following six days of Plenary and Working Group Meetings in Singapore. Jamaica and Turkey have been removed.

The body again urged the Philippines to work on its action plan to address strategic deficiencies, the deadline for which expired in January 2023. The country was put on the FATF grey list in June 2021 after an evaluation by the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) highlighted 18 deficiencies in AML/CFT controls.

In January, president Marcos Jr set a target for the country’s removal from the list by October and ordered the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to intensify efforts.