https://palawan-news.com/marcos-seeks-philippines-removal-from-money-laundering-grey-list/#google_vignette

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. wants the Philippines to be removed from the global money laundering ‘grey list’ in 2024, Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Matthew David said in a Palace briefing later Tuesday.

“The President reiterated the government’s high-level political commitment and directed all government agencies concerned to strictly address the remaining strategic deficiencies identified by the FATF in relation to the grey listing of the Philippines. The Philippines is aiming to address all these deficiencies within 2024 and trigger the exit process from this FATF grey listing,” David said.

Marcos reiterated his order to strengthen efforts that would ensure that the Philippines would not be a money laundering site for any unlawful activities through Executive Order No. 33 issued last year.

Global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placed the country under grey list in June 2021.

David said the country originally received 18 action plan items to resolve its grey list status in 2021. Currently, it has eight remaining action plans that need to be addressed.

These remaining action plans include the effective risk-based supervision of non-financial businesses and professionals (NFBPs); mitigating the risk associated with casino junkets; enhancing and streamlining access to beneficial ownership information; demonstrating an increase in money laundering and terrorism financing investigations and prosecutions; and ensuring cross-border measures in all entry points across the country, including seaports and airports.

David stressed the need to expedite the removal of the Philippines from the list.

“There are precautions for being on the grey list, because the longer we are on the grey list, the bigger the possibility or the higher the risk that we will enter the black list. Of course, we don’t want to be in a blacklisted jurisdiction. And if we are on the blacklisted list, there are repercussions to that, and one of the repercussions is the effect on our transactions with our OFWs,” David said.

He also mentioned that if the Philippines is blacklisted, the FATF may impose countermeasures on the country and the international financial transactions of Filipinos abroad.

David said these could mean an increase in the cost of remittance services, and with more stringent requirements, there may also be a higher risk for transactions to be denied or disapproved.