Gibraltar removed from FATF grey list

The igaming hub had made “significant progess” on AML concerns, the FATF says.

Gibraltar.- The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has removed Gibraltar from its grey list of untrustworthy financial jurisdictions. The country, home to a large igaming industry, was removed from the list following the FATF Plenary, which took place from February 21 to 24. Barbados, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates were also removed from the list.

The FATF said these jurisdictions had made “significant progress” in tackling shortcomings in anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) measures identified in previous evaluations and had met the requirements of their agreed action plans.

The FATF noted that the decision followed successful on-site visits to each country. Each country will continue to work with regional bodies to strengthen AML/CFT regimes further.

Gibraltar was added to the grey list in 2022 after the same meeting at which another igaming hub, Malta, was removed. Andrew Lyman, Gibraltar’s gambling commissioner, had initially expressed surprise at the decision. In June last year, Gibraltar was warned that it had failed to meet a May 2023 deadline for the completion of its action plan.

While Gibraltar, Barbados, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates were removed from the list, Kenya and Namibia have now been added. Meanwhile, the FATF has named Elisa de Anda Madrazo as president for the next two years starting July 1. She served as vice president from July 2020 to June 30, 2023.