The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) asked all its supervised financial institutions to consider the countries recently tagged by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in their respective risk analysis and mitigation strategies.
In a circular dated 7 November, the BSP said financial institutions should take into account FATF publications issued on 24 October regarding high-risk jurisdictions, which called for action and are subject to enhanced monitoring, and the Russian Federation's continued membership suspension.
“BSFIs (BSP-supervised financial institutions) are also directed to regularly visit the FATF website for the latest statements on high risk and other supervised jurisdictions and consider the same in their risk analysis and mitigation strategies,” it said.
In its latest publication, the FATF called on its member states to implement countermeasures against the risks of money laundering and terrorism financing from blacklisted South Korea and Iran.
Meanwhile, member states should step up due diligence against risks from Myanmar, which is also on the blacklist.
“For all countries identified as high risk, FATF urges all Members and urges all jurisdictions to exercise greater caution and, in the most serious cases, implement countermeasures to protect the international financial system from money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing risks,” the FATF said.
The anti-money laundering watchdog similarly confirmed the suspension of the Russian Federation's membership.
The Philippines left FATF's gray list of jurisdictions under enhanced surveillance for “dirty money” in February. , Katherine K. chan
