The European Commission has removed the Philippines from its updated list of countries having strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering / countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).

The delisting of the Philippines from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) was announced on Tuesday.

"The Commission has reviewed the progress made by Barbados, Gibraltar, Jamaica, Panama, the Philippines, Senegal, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates in addressing the strategic deficiencies in their respective AML/CFT regimes", it said.

"Those jurisdictions that were identified as high-risk third countries in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675 were removed from the FATF list of ‘Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring’ in October 2023 (Panama), in February 2024 (Barbados, Gibraltar, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates), in June 2024 (Jamaica), in October 2024 (Senegal) and in February 2025 (Philippines)", it added.

The European Commission said that the decision was made "at its plenary meetings in February, June and October 2024 and in February 2025, the FATF added Algeria, Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Monaco, Namibia, Nepal and Venezuela to that list, and removed Barbados, Gibraltar, Jamaica, the Philippines, Senegal, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates from that list".

It added that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list is to monitor third-country jurisdictions that have deficiencies in their AML/CFT " pose significant threats to the EU’s financial system (‘high-risk third countries’)" to protect the proper function of the international market. Marie Manalili/DMS