The Paris-based international watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), urges the Philippines to swiftly implement its action plan to address strategic deficiencies related to anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). The nation needs to take these steps to be removed from the FATF’s “grey list” of jurisdictions under increased monitoring.
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 Jamaica and Turkey from its grey list due to their significant progress in addressing previously identified strategic AML/CFT deficiencies during their mutual evaluations.
The FATF added the Philippines to the grey list in June 2021. According to a research paper by the International Monetary Fund, jurisdictions on the FATF grey list can experience disruptions in capital flows.
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
FATF
The Philippines needs to demonstrate that supervisors are using AML/CFT controls to mitigate risks associated with casino junkets. Other important measures include applying cross-border measures at all main sea/airports to detect false declarations of currency and take confiscation actions in line with risk, and increasing 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 an extension until January 2024 to meet the financial standards needed to get off the FATF’s grey list. In February this year, after the deadline passed, the Philippines’ Anti-Money Laundering Council issued a statement saying that government agencies had committed to helping strengthen the country’s AML/CFT regime, including mitigating risks in casino junkets.
Remaining in the grey list has a lot of impacts economically and could also affect the online gaming industry. The Philippines need to ensure that it can mitigate risks associated with gaming in the country.
