Philippines Remain on FATF’s AML Grey List, Cambodia Removed

According to a Friday announcement, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the organization that monitors money laundering (AML), has removed Cambodia’s casino jurisdiction from its infamous “grey list.”

Following an updated analysis, the organization stated that Cambodia was one of two jurisdictions “no longer under intensified monitoring” for its approach to fighting money laundering and preventing the funding of terrorism.

Yet, another regional casino state, the Philippines, is still listed on the FATF’s “grey list.” All current deadlines for progress had “now expired and work remains,” the organization said, adding that the Philippines had “continued progress across its action plan.”

Demonstrating that managers are utilizing anti-money laundering and combating the funding of terrorism measures to reduce the risks connected with casino junkets was part of the required effort.

The governor of the Philippine central bank was quoted in January as saying that his nation had been allowed an additional year, or until January 2024, to achieve the financial requirements necessary to remove itself from the FATF risk list.

According to a May 2021 research report by the International Monetary Fund, countries on the FATF grey list “may experience a disruption in financial flows.”

Following a three-day plenary meeting, the FATF reported in its Friday update that Cambodia had “resolved its technical shortcomings to satisfy the obligations of its action plan on strategic weaknesses that the FATF highlighted in February 2019 and 2021 accordingly.”

The release also stated that in order to “further enhance” its anti-money laundering and countering the funding of terrorism regimes, Cambodia would “continue to collaborate” with a “FATF-style regional body” of which it was a member.

A senior government official from Cambodia was cited as saying in November that he felt his country had made enough progress to shed its “grey” status after the watchdog had finished its planned visit there in the early months of this year.