'Grey list' exit to boost foreign investment push —Palace

Malacañang on Saturday welcomed the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) decision to remove the Philippines from its list of jurisdictions notorious for being safe havens of money laundering and terrorism financing.

Following its three-day plenary, the FATF announced the country is no longer under its increased monitoring for dirty money, nearly four years since its inclusion in the so-called “grey list.”

“Our well-earned exit from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list boosts our drive to attract job-creating, growth-inducing foreign direct investments,” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said in a statement.

“For so long, our investment attractiveness has been dragged down by this dirty money haven label,” Bersamin said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s executive secretary added that the country’s removal from the “grey list” resulted from multiple moves “to finally dismantle structures that could be exploited by money launderers and terrorism financiers.”

The country’s removal from the grey list also came nearly two years after Marcos issued Executive Order (EO) No. 33 in July 2023.

The EO served as a roadmap for addressing the action plan imposed by the FATF.

“This seal of good financial housekeeping benefits overseas Filipinos as it would make cross-border transactions faster and cheaper as layers of compliance barriers are removed,” Bersamin said.

“This hard-fought administration win in its battle against money laundering will be preserved and protected through consistent compliance with global standards,” the Palace official added.

In a separate statement, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto described FATF’s decision as “a significant step for the country to secure a credit rating upgrade under the Marcos Jr. administration.”

“By upholding the highest standards of financial governance, we will attract more foreign direct investments and expand more trade partnerships that will help accelerate economic growth. With this momentum, our next goal is clear—a credit rating upgrade within the Marcos Jr. administration,” Recto said.

The Department of Finance (DOF), Recto said, played a key role in this achievement as a member of the National Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Terrorism Financing/Counter-Proliferation Financing Coordinating Committee (NACC), the inter-agency body responsible for overseeing the National AML/CTF/CPF Strategy (NACS) and guiding its implementation across relevant agencies. — VBL, GMA Integrated News