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2 NEWS FATF GREY LISTING 24.6.2021 The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog. The inter-governmental body sets international standards that aim to prevent these illegal activities and the harm they cause to society. The FATF reviews money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and continuously strengthens its standards to address new risks, such as the regulation of virtual assets, which have spread as cryptocurrencies gain popularity. As a policy-making body, the FATF works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas. With more than 200 countries and jurisdictions committed to implementing them. The Grey List Jurisdictions under increased monitoring are actively working with the FATF to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. When the FATF places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring, it means the country has committed to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring. This list is often externally referred to as the "grey list". The FATF and FATF-style regional bodies (FSRBs) continue to work with the jurisdictions below as they report on the progress made in addressing their strategic deficiencies. The FATF calls on these jurisdictions to complete their action plans expeditiously and within the agreed timeframes. Members The FATF currently comprises 37 member jurisdictions and two regional organisations, representing most major financial centres in all parts of the globe: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, European Commission, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Gulf Co- operation Council, Hong Kong, China, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Kingdom of New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States. THE decision yesterday afternoon by the Financial Action Task Force to grey- list Malta is "a punishment for the whole country", opposition leader Bernard Grech said. "We now need to work together to reach a consensus on how to get back on the FATF's white list," he said in a recorded message on Facebook. "I am inviting the government to set up a national task force that will bring us all together to work to see Malta off the grey list once again." Grech said that when the FATF meets again October, he wanted Malta to be on the agenda again, this time for members to vote Malta back onto the white list. "is can only happen if we come to- gether, both sides of Parliament, as well as our social partners in the finance sec- tor, to implement in full the FATF's action plan (that has yet to be published," he said. "at is the only way now to limit the effects this grey-listing will have on the Maltese people." Grech said that Malta had overcome many huge challenges in the past and he was convinced the country could do so now again. "e Nationalist Party vows to work to- wards increasing transparency and scru- tiny as wll as changing the mentality at the highest level of the administration," he said. Greylisting 'a punishment for the whole country' - Bernard Grech The FATF and its Grey List Financial services practitioners insist Malta is committed to upholding standards PAUL COCKS IN the wake of the decision of the Finan- cial Action Task Force (FATF) to place Malta on its grey list, the Institute of Fi- nancial Services Practitioners said it was confident that, with a concerted effort, the country can reach the effectiveness outcomes sought within a short period. In a statement, the IFSP said that the substantial progress made by Malta over the past years to address shortcomings in its anti-money laundering regime had been recognised by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) during its plenary meeting this week. "It is regrettable that, despite the signif- icant progress reported by MONEYVAL, the FATF has placed the jurisdiction un- der increased monitoring, also known as the Grey List," it said. "Unlike a number of other countries (including some EU Member States and other large countries) Malta does not have any "non-compliant" or "partial- ly compliant" grades and has therefore fared better when viewed through the lens of the FATF's own risk-scoring ma- trix." e institute said that Malta has made big strides forward in its fight against money laundering and financing of ter- rorism, so much so that it was now either largely compliant or fully compliant with all 40 of the FATF recommendations. "e financial services industry is proud to have been part of the process to raise the bar in AML and CFT compliance and that its cooperation with the authorities over the past months has led to this sig- nificant progress," it said. e IFSP said its members remain com- mitted to continue progressing and ad- dressing the areas of concern throughout the FATF's increased monitoring term, designed to assist Malta keep its focus on any remaining issues that require atten- tion. In light of this, the IFSP believes that any outstanding areas of concern will be tackled in an efficient and effective man- ner with the industry and the authorities each playing their respective part, and that Malta will soon be able to demon- strate that this level of compliance trans- lates into the level of effectiveness that the FATF is seeking. "e IFSP is confident that, with the country making a concerted effort to- wards addressing those aspects which may require further progress, Malta can demonstrate that the effectiveness out- comes sought will naturally follow the substantial progress already achieved on the technical front, thus bringing about removal from the Grey List within a short period," the statement read.

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