FATF to review Pak’s drive against terror financing
NEW DELHI: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will review Pakistan’s efforts to curb money laundering and terror financing at a plenary meeting to be held from October 19-21.
At its last virtual plenary meeting in June, the multilateral watchdog had retained Pakistan on its “grey list” for failing to adequately investigate and prosecute leaders of UN-designated terrorist groups, and also asked the country to implement a new action plan to tackle serious money laundering risks.
The FATF said on Monday the plenary meeting will update its statements on the list of countries under increased monitoring or the grey list. Countries on the grey list have “strategic deficiencies” in their measures to combat money laundering and terror financing.
Virtually connected delegates will join those who travel to Paris to discuss “key issues to strengthen global action against the financial flows that fuel crime and terrorism”, the watchdog said. They will discuss “outcomes of the FATF’s survey to identify areas where divergent anti money laundering and counterterror 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.
They will also discuss the next steps to strengthen FATF’s standards on transparency of beneficial ownership, and finalise key reports, including revised guidance on virtual assets and their service providers.
Under the German presidency of Marcus Pleyer, delegates representing 205 members of the global network and observer organisations, including the International Monetary Fund, United Nations and Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, will participate in the plenary meeting.
After its last plenary, the FATF said Pakistan had completed all but one of the 27 items in an old action plan drawn up to tackle money laundering and terror financing. The action plan was finalised after Pakistan was placed on the grey list in 2018.