Pakistan to remain on FATF greylist

Pakistan to remain on FATF greylist

Subject : International Relations

Context : Pakistan was retained on the greylist, or the list of countries under “increased monitoring”, by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), as the Paris-based UN watchdog judged it deficient in prosecuting the top leadership of UN Security Council-designated terror groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e Mohammad, Al Qaeda and Taliban.

Concept :

Financial Action Task Force

• It is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 during the G7 Summit in Paris.
• The FATF assesses the strength of a country’s anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing frameworks, however it does not go by individual cases.
• The FATF Plenary is the decision making body of the FATF. It meets three times per year.
• Its Secretariat is located at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) headquarters in Paris.
• The FATF currently has 39 members including two regional organisations — the European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council. India is a member of the FATF.

Objectives:

• To set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

Lists under FATF:

• Grey List:
• Countries that are considered safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put in the FATF grey list.
• This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.
• Black List:
• Countries known as Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCTs) are put in the blacklist.
• These countries support terror funding and money laundering activities.
• The FATF revises the blacklist regularly, adding or deleting entries.