MANILA – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Monday said the Philippines’ laws and regulations are not enough, as the country finds itself again in the “gray list” of a global dirty money watchdog.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global inter-governmental body that aims to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, placed the Philippines last week on its “gray list” or jurisdictions under increased monitoring.
“The Philippines has adopted compliant laws and regulations. But it is not sufficient,” according to BSP Gov. Benjamin Diokno.
Diokno stressed that the country needs time to implement these laws to demonstrate the effectiveness of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures.
“That said, the Philippines has been working relentlessly to address the deficiencies identified in the 2018 Mutual Evaluation even amid the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic,” the central bank chief added.
However, the country remains strongly committed to swiftly resolve the remaining strategic deficiencies, which have been reduced to 18 from the original 70, within agreed timeframes.
Diokno said the Philippines will report its progress to the FATF thrice a year – January, May and September; with the first report due this September.
“The Philippines will be delisted from gray list upon successful completion of all action plans – hopefully on or before January 2023,” he added.(ABS-CBN News)
