Pakistan’s FATF grey list’s destiny to be decided by October

CANBERRA: Pakistan has submitted its third mutual evaluation report to the Asia Pacific Group, which will make the final decision on whether to keep Pakistan on its grey list in October.

The Asia Pacific Group adopted Pakistan’s mutual evaluation report which identified a number of areas where further action was required to strengthen anti-money laundering measures and combating the financing of terrorism framework.

The APG will review the report and present it to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)  next month. Based on the report, the FATF in October will settle on a choice of whether to bar Pakistan from its grey list, keep it there or put it in the boycott category.

The APG held its 22nd annual meeting in Canberra from August 18 to 23. A high-level Pakistani delegation headed by State Bank of Pakistan Governor Dr. Reza Baqir attended the meeting.

During the discussions, the Pakistani delegation welcomed engagement with the international community in its efforts to counter-terrorism and money laundering.

The representatives briefed APG members on the steps taken as of late for improving Pakistan structure, as well as the actions for ensuring effective implementation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) action plan.

Pakistani officials also held a number of bilateral meetings with key delegations. During the meeting on the recent gatherings, they advised the members on ongoing advancement by Pakistan in implementing the FATF activity plan.

Earlier in June, the FATF statement said, “The FATF strongly urges Pakistan to swiftly complete its action plan by October 2019 when the last set of action plan items are set to expire. Otherwise, the FATF will decide the next step at that time for insufficient progress.”

The FATF is an inter-governmental body that combats money laundering, terrorist financing and threats to the international financial system.

Pakistan has been a member of the APG since 2000. The APG is a regional body of FATF. It put Pakistan on its grey list in June 2017 because of deficiencies in the country’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Terrorist Financing regulations.