MANILA, Philippines — The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has officially delisted the Philippines from its global money laundering watchlist after nearly four years of heightened scrutiny.
In a statement released late Friday, the Paris-based intergovernmental organization commended the country for addressing deficiencies in its anti-money laundering (AML), counter-terrorism financing (CFT), and counter-proliferation financing (CPF) measures.
“The Philippines has successfully completed its action plan to resolve strategic deficiencies within the agreed timeframe and will no longer be subject to the FATF’s increased monitoring,” the watchdog stated.
During a briefing, FATF President Elisa de Anda Madrazo acknowledged the Philippines’ efforts to mitigate illicit financial activities, particularly within the casino sector.
“Offshore gaming operators have been shut down, and casino junkets are now under stricter oversight,” Madrazo noted. “The country must continue implementing these reforms in accordance with FATF standards.”
The Philippines was the only nation removed from FATF’s “grey list”—a category indicating heightened monitoring—during the organization’s February plenary session. The country had been placed on the list in 2021 and remained there for three years due to persistent gaps in its AML/CFT framework.
FATF highlighted the Philippines’ progress in key areas, including:
- Strengthening risk-based supervision for designated non-financial businesses and professions.
- Enhancing AML/CFT controls to address risks tied to casino junkets.
- Implementing stricter registration rules for money transfer services and enforcing penalties against unregistered operators.
- Improving law enforcement agencies’ access to beneficial ownership data to ensure accuracy.
- Increasing financial intelligence use, as well as money laundering investigations and prosecutions.
- Boosting the identification and prosecution of terrorist financing cases.
- Ensuring appropriate regulatory measures for non-profit organizations (NPOs) without disrupting legitimate operations.
- Enhancing financial sanctions frameworks for terrorist and proliferation financing.
- Applying stricter border security measures at international airports and seaports.
Despite the country’s removal from the grey list, the FATF urged continued cooperation with the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering to sustain these improvements.
“The FATF encourages the Philippines to maintain its efforts, particularly in prosecuting terrorist financing cases while ensuring that legitimate NPO activities are not hindered,” the organization stated.
The Philippines is set to undergo another FATF assessment in 2027 to verify the continued enforcement of these reforms.
The country has a history of financial monitoring by the FATF, having been blacklisted in 2000 and only removed in 2005 following the passage of key anti-money laundering laws.
It was later reclassified to the grey list in 2010 due to a lack of counter-terrorism financing measures and was briefly downgraded to the “dark grey” list in 2012 before regaining grey list status and ultimately exiting in 2013.
Following a 2018 review, the Philippines was placed back on the grey list in 2021 but has now successfully met FATF requirements for delisting.
