The Philippines has been granted an additional 12 months to convince the global anti-money laundering (AML) watchdog that it should be removed from a “grey list” of nations under increased monitoring for deficiencies in AML and CTF (counter-terrorist financing) controls.
Addressing local media this week, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor and AML Council chairman Felipe Medalla said the Philippines has “clearly missed” its initial January 2023 deadline to be removed from the grey list but had now been given until January 2024 to achieve its goal.
The country was added to a list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring in June 2021, with the FATF stating it wanted continued strengthening of AML/CTF controls around casino junkets and better sharing of information around various financial institutions.
Medalla said this week that the Philippines needed to show a higher number of prosecutions and convictions by being more diligent in in applying a system to record such instances.
“We had a meeting with the Department of Justice and they said that if we’re only more diligent in having a system that truly brings out all the real prosecution and conviction, the numbers will be much higher,” he said.
“The solution requires a whole government approach – the Anti-Money Laundering Council) and law enforcement also as well … the prosecutors, the policemen.”
The Philippines was one of four jurisdictions added to the “grey list” in June 2021 alongside Malta, Haiti and South Sudan. Of those, only Malta has since been removed from the list.
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