Philippines remains on FATF grey list

Added: June 7, 2024

The Philippines is still listed as having insufficient systems to combat money laundering and terrorism financing on the Financial Action Task Force’s anti-money laundering grey list.

The Group of Seven (G7) established the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental body whose goal is to lessen the illicit circulation of money around the globe.

In 2021, the Philippines was added to the FATF’s grey list of nations that fight money laundering. Since then, the Philippine government has promised to collaborate with the FATF to improve its measures against money laundering. The Philippines’ numerous casinos bear some of the blame for the Financial Action Task Force’s declaration that the country in Southeast Asia is still vulnerable to criminal activity due to inadequate financial security measures. President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. of the Philippines gave PAGCOR, the organization that oversees and runs the nation’s casinos, instructions to create regulations last October to make sure the establishments are taking the necessary precautions to prevent their floors from being used as a means of money laundering.

PAGCOR was one of the 44 government organizations that Marcos directed to take whatever actions their heads determined would be necessary to remove the Philippines from the FATF’s “grey” list.

Alejandro Tengco, the chairman and CEO of PAGCOR, announced on Thursday that his organization is taking action. Tengco has assigned Wilma Eisma, the recently appointed President and Chief Operating Officer of PAGCOR, the task of “personally overseeing” the gaming regulator’s efforts to create stricter measures to prevent money laundering. The attorney was appointed to the PAGCOR post in April, having previously been a member of the Development Bank of the Philippines’ board of directors. As the president and COO of PAGCOR, she is the first female holding both positions.

Tengco declared:

“These measures will help facilitate our early exclusion from the FATF grey list.”

According to Tengco, the agency’s current money laundering priorities center on risk-based oversight and upending the operations of junket groups. Following China’s Macau crackdown on junket firms during the COVID-19 outbreak, the Philippines has experienced a flood of these businesses.

Philippines