FATF keeps Pakistan in grey list

The Financial Action Task Force Friday announced to keep Pakistan in its grey list.

Despite acknowledging Pakistan’s efforts to combat money-laundering and terror-financing, the FATF decided to keep the country in the "increased monitoring list" — referred to more commonly as the grey list.

FATF President Dr Marcus Player said the forum has decided that Pakistan "needs to do more" when it comes to fulfilling the requirements set out by the task force.

It was acknowledged that of the 27 conditions that were put forth to Pakistan, 21 have been fulfilled.

Dr Player said that once the remaining six conditions are fulfilled, an "on site visit" will be approved under which a team from the FATF will visit the country for the next review.

"Our discussions are confidential, and the members decided by consensus that Pakistan needs to complete these six items for an onsite visit to be granted. As soon as the plenary decides that Pakistan has completed all the 27 items, then an onsite visit will be made. After that, it will be decided whether the country will be allowed to exit the grey list or not."

He said that the new deadline for Pakistan to fulfil the remaining conditions is February 2021. The plenary was earlier scheduled in June but got postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In February 2020, the FATF plenary granted Pakistan a grace period of four months to complete its 27-point action plan against money-laundering and terror financing (ML&TF) after it noted that the country was compliant on 14 points. Pakistan was placed on the grey list in June 2018.

FATF also kept Iran and North Korea in the black list.