BSP welcomes EC move to delist Phl from financial crime watchlist

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Eli Remolona Jr. welcomed the European Commission’s (EC) recent decision to delist the Philippines from its high-risk countries list for financial crime.

“That’s certainly good news. But the EU (European Union) Parliament will still need to confirm the EC decision,” Remolona said last week.

The EC announced on June 10 that it had removed eight countries, including the Philippines, from its high-risk list as part of its efforts to safeguard the EU financial system. The commission emphasized that the revisions align with the standards and monitoring efforts of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global watchdog on money laundering and terrorism financing.

“As a founding member of FATF, the Commission is closely involved in monitoring the progress of the listed jurisdictions, helping them to fully implement their respective action plans agreed with FATF. Alignment with FATF is important for upholding the EU´s commitment to promoting and implementing global standards,” the EC noted.

The EC’s move follows FATF’s February 21 announcement that the Philippines had been removed from its “Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring” list. The FATF cited the country’s significant progress in strengthening its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT) systems.

Among the improvements credited to the Philippine government were effective risk-based supervision of designated non-financial businesses and professions, tighter controls on casino junket operations, enforcement of new registration rules for money or value transfer services, and sanctions imposed on illegal and unregistered remittance channels.