Philippines no longer under FATF monitoring

Manila Times

 

Monday, February 27, 2006

Philippines no longer under FATF monitoring

By Maricel E. Burgonio, Reporter   A YEAR after it was stricken off a watchlist of dirty-money havens, the Philippines recently was removed from a list of countries that the Financial Action Task Force is monitoring for suspicious transactions. The Philippines was removed from the Paris-based FATF’s monitoring list during a meeting on February 15 to 17 in Africa, according to the Anti­money Laundering Council (AMLC). Vicente Aquino, AMLC executive director, said the termination of monitoring is a clear manifestation of the growing confidence FATF and the international financial community have in the Philippines’ ability to fight money laundering and terrorist financing. Aquino said Rick McDonnel and Kanzaki Yayushi, both officials of FATF’s Asia Pacific unit, have informed AMLC about the termination. “The stoppage of the monitoring is a strong recognition of the Philippines’ sustained effort to effectively implement its antimoney laundering efforts,” Aquino said. “This is a seal of good anti­money laundering housekeeping. This means, we graduated from FATF,” he said. “However, that will not cause us to be complacent, to be more vigilant and ensure not to use as money laundering and terrorist site for the proceeds of useful activities,” he added. It may be recalled that the FATF removed the Philippines from FATF’s watchlist on February 11, 2005, and placed the country under a one-year monitoring period. According to FATF, the Philippines has an antimoney laundering system that includes customer identification, suspicious transaction reporting, bank examination and legal capacity to investigate and prosecute money laundering, as well as a developed financial intelligence unit that analyzes financial data, coordinates national efforts and facilitates international cooperation. Based on AMLC’s latest report, the number of recorded suspicious transactions reached 9,050, consisting of deals made through banks, nonbank financial institutions, insurance companies, securities firms and the government. Banks and nonbank financial institutions accounted for the largest number of suspicious transaction at 6,278. Suspicious transactions from the government reached 2,679, while insurance and securities firms reported 65 and 28, respectively. About 91 cases are pending in various courts, the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice. Most of the cases consist of money laundering at 34, while civil forfeiture cases reached 24, application for bank inquiries at 20, petition for extension of freeze orders at 7 and the reported application for freeze orders at 6.

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/feb/27/yehey/business/20060227bus2.html