Paris (Commonwealth Union)_Countries that fail to follow anti-money laundering (AML) requirements for cryptocurrencies may be included to the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) ‘grey list’. According to Al Jazeera, sources claim the global financial watchdog plans to undertake annual checks to ensure governments enforce AML and Counter-Terrorist Financing (CTF) guidelines on crypto providers.
The grey list is a list of countries identified as “Jurisdictions Under Increased Monitoring” by the FATF. According to the anti-money laundering body, countries on this list have agreed to resolve “strategic weaknesses” within agreed-upon dates and thus face increased monitoring. It differs from the FATF ‘blacklist’, which lists Iran and North Korea as countries with “serious strategic weaknesses in terms of money laundering”.
The grey list now covers 23 countries, including Syria, South Sudan, Haiti and Uganda. The UAE and the Philippines are also on the grey list, but according to FATF, both nations have made a “high-level political commitment” to engage with the global financial watchdog to reform their AML and CFT regimes. Pakistan was previously on the list, but after implementing 34 measures to address FATF concerns, the country is no longer under increased surveillance.
According to one of the unnamed individuals mentioned by Al Jazeera, while failure to comply with crypto AML requirements will not automatically place a country on the FATF’s grey list, it may harm a country’s overall rating, tipping some into heightened monitoring.
The Financial Action Task Force declined to comment when Cointelegraph contacted them about Al Jazeera’s assertions.
According to the FATF Media Team, “the general implementation of FATF requirements by governments to control crypto assets remains extremely inadequate”. “To prevent criminals, terrorists, and penalty evaders from misusing crypto laws, all governments must prioritise their speedy and successful implementation.”
The financial watchdog has also said that it has not changed the manner or frequency of its evaluations regarding Recommendation 15 (R.15), which requires Virtual Asset Providers (VASP) to be regulated, licenced, registered, and subject to adequate monitoring or supervisory mechanisms. “The FATF’s priority is R.15 implementation, and the FATF will continue to investigate and take appropriate action to promote compliance.”
In April 2022, the AML watchdog disclosed that numerous countries, notably those that use virtual asset service providers (VASPs), are not complying with its Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) and AML rules. VASPs operating in some nations must be regulated or registered under FATF criteria. In March, it discovered that several countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Malta, the Cayman Islands, and the Philippines, had “strategic inadequacies” in AML and CTF.
