FATF grey-list: Pakistan’s delegation leaves for Berlin

Pakistan’s delegation, led by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar alongside senior officials of the foreign and finance ministries, left for Germany to attend the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting, reported Aaj News on Tuesday.

Matters pertaining to Pakistan's removal from the increased monitoring list, also known as the grey list, will be discussed on June 15 and 16.

Officials say that after discussions on June 15 and 16, decisions taken in the FATF plenary will be announced on June 17.

“There is a high chance that Pakistan would get off the grey list as the government has proactively implemented a number of measures that address FATF’s concerns,” Saad Hashmey, Executive Director BMA Capital, told Business Recorder.

Pakistan stays on FATF's 'grey-list', UAE added

“It has been four years since Pakistan was put on the grey list,” he said, adding that removal would be a positive development, both for improving the country’s perception as well as for its markets.

Earlier in March, FATF, after its plenary, announced that Pakistan will continue to stay on the grey list.

It noted that "Since June 2018, when Pakistan made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and APG to strengthen its AML/CFT regime and to address its strategic counter-terrorist financing-related deficiencies, Pakistan’s continued political commitment has led to significant progress across a comprehensive CFT action plan.

"Pakistan has completed 26 of the 27 action items in its 2018 action plan. The FATF encourages Pakistan to continue to make progress to address, as soon as possible, the one remaining item by continuing to demonstrate that TF investigations and prosecutions target senior leaders and commanders of UN designated terrorist groups."

Background

Pakistan was placed on FATF's grey list for deficiencies in its counter-terror financing and anti-money laundering regimes in June 2018.

In October 2021, the FATF plenary announced that Pakistan will continue to stay in the increased monitoring list.

FATF: German envoy optimistic about Pakistan’s prospects

Back then, Pakistan had made progress in complying with FATF regulations and completed 30/34 action items. The FATF president had stated that Pakistan has shown high-level political commitment and completed a substantial part of its action items.

In June 2021, Pakistan completed 26 out of the 27 action items in its 2018 action plan.

How to be removed from FATF's increased monitoring list

In order to be removed from FATF monitoring, a jurisdiction must address all or nearly all the components of its action plan.

Once the FATF has determined that a jurisdiction has done so, it will organise an on-site visit to confirm that the implementation of the necessary legal, regulatory, and/or operational reforms is underway and there is the necessary political commitment and institutional capacity to sustain implementation.

If the on-site visit has a positive outcome, the FATF will decide on removing the jurisdiction from public identification at the next FATF plenary. The concerned jurisdiction will then continue to work within the FATF or the relevant FSRB, through its normal follow-up process, to improve its AML/CFT regime.