PARIS: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is set to meet to discuss and announce on Thursday updates on jurisdictions currently under the increased monitoring list, often referred to as the grey list.
In a press statement issued on Monday, the FATF said that under the German Presidency of Dr Marcus Pleyer, delegates representing 205 members of the Global Network and observer organisations, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations (UN) and the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, will take part in a hybrid meeting of the FATF Plenary.
The virtually connected delegates will join those that are able to travel to Paris for three days of meetings, during which they will discuss key issues to strengthen global action against the financial flows that fuel crime and terrorism, said the statement.
It said the FATF will finalise key reports, including the revised guidance on virtual assets and their service providers and discuss next steps to strengthen its standards on transparency of beneficial ownership.
Delegates will also discuss the outcomes of the FATF’s survey to identify areas where divergent anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing rules or their implementation cause friction for cross-border payments.
The FATF is leading work on this aspect of the G20’s priority to improve cross-border payments. The FATF will also update its statements identifying jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in their measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
The statement said that the FATF president will give a press briefing on the outcomes of the FATF Plenary on Thursday at 17:30 Paris time.
Pakistan has been on the FATF’s increased monitoring list since June 2018. The country has been lauded for the progress made on its strategic deficiencies.
Law Minister Farogh Naseem last week had said that the country has done everything to get off the FATF’s grey list, adding that the country is now a test case for the fairness of the money laundering watchdog.
The authorities have said that the FATF is caving into international politics and has continued to ignore the efforts taken by the government to mitigate anti-money laundering and countering terror financing.
