FATF greylist: Watchdog to decide Pakistan fate in meeting from Oct 21 to 23

The virtual meeting of the Financial Action Task Force will be held in Paris from October 21 to 23. The meeting is likely to remove Pakistan from the greylist.

As per details, an important decision is expected at the FATF meeting on October 21-23, in which Pakistan is likely to be removed from the greylist.

Pakistan has tightened the laws on money laundering and financing of terrorism. Pakistan has largely complied with the demands of the FATF. Accounts and activities of armed groups have been banned. Member countries have expressed satisfaction over Pakistan's measures.

Whereas, getting out of the graylist will improve Pakistan's economy.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has also hired a United States lobbying firm - Linden Strategies - to seek Trump administration's support for the country's quest to be removed from FATF's "grey list" .

A senior government official told Business Recorder that Pakistan's Mission in Washington DC has hired services of Linden Strategies to effectively present Pakistan's case and its progress on the FATF action plan with the Trump administration.

Just days ago, the Asia-Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering retained Pakistan on its “Enhanced Follow-Up” list, due to the limited progress on the technical recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) pertaining to terror financing.

The first Follow-Up Report (FUR) released by the Asia-Pacific Group - a regional affiliate of the FATF - showed that while Pakistan was improving its full compliance on two (out of 40) recommendations pertaining to combating terror financing and money laundering, progress largely remains unchanged across the board; with non-compliance on four counts, partial compliance on 25 counts, and largely compliant on nine counts.

The report added that “Pakistan will remain in enhanced (expedited) follow up, and will continue to report back to the APG on progress to strengthen its implementation of AML/CFT measures”, stating that overall Pakistan has made robust progress in addressing the technical compliance deficiencies on 27 action points, including legislation in 15 areas.