FATF removes Sri Lanka from Grey List

COLOMBO: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has removed Sri Lanka from its “Grey List”.

According to the Colombo newspaper, Sri Lanka will no longer be subject to the FATF’s monitoring under its on-going global anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance process.

The FATF, whose five-day plenary concluded in Paris on Friday, stated that Sri Lanka made significant progress in addressing the strategic AML/CFT deficiencies identified earlier.

In October 2016, the FATF announced that Sri Lanka would be subjected to a review of the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) of the terror financing watchdog to assess the progress of AML/CFT effectiveness in the country.

The FATF indicated Sri Lanka had not made sufficient progress in four parameters international cooperation, supervision, legal persons and arrangements and targeted financial sanctions on North Korea and Iran.

Sri Lanka was placed on the “Grey List” by the FATF list in October 2017.

Also read: Pakistan to remain on FATF’s grey list till February 2020

The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

Pakistan was also retained from the “Grey List” of Pakistan and warned it of getting blacklisted if it does not control terror funding by February next year.