MANILA – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recognized the Philippines’ progress in addressing money laundering and counter-terrorism financing, highlighting improvements in compliance with global standards.
In a recent report, the IMF stated, “The authorities have made significant progress in addressing outstanding anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) issues, which should continue.” The report also noted that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has initially determined that the Philippines has substantially completed its action plan.
The FATF, an international organization that monitors global efforts to combat financial crimes, placed the Philippines on its “grey list” in June 2021, indicating that the country was under increased monitoring. However, an October FATF report confirmed that the Philippines had fulfilled all eight remaining action plan items required for removal from the list.
These completed measures include improved risk-based supervision of Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions, strengthened anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing controls in the casino sector, and the enforcement of registration requirements for Money or Value Transfer Services. The report also highlighted the Philippines’ progress in sanctioning unregistered and illegal remittance operators, improving law enforcement access to beneficial ownership information, and ensuring its accuracy.
Further achievements cited by the FATF include increased money laundering investigations and prosecutions, enhanced measures to monitor the non-profit organization sector, and improvements to the framework for targeted financial sanctions related to terrorist financing and proliferation financing.
The IMF emphasized the importance of maintaining these reforms to comply with evolving FATF requirements ahead of the next mutual evaluation in 2027. The report also suggested that reforming the bank secrecy law could further strengthen the Philippines’ AML/CFT framework and enhance the supervisory powers of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
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