The FINANCIAL ACTION TASK FORCE (FATF)

  • The FATF is an inter-governmental body established at the G7 summit at Paris in 1989 with the objective to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
  • The FATF has developed a series of Recommendations that are recognised as the international standard for combating of money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
  • They form the basis for a co-ordinated response to these threats to the integrity of the financial system and help ensure a level playing field.
  • The FATF undertakes peer reviews of each member on an ongoing basis to assess the implementation of its recommendations and provides a detailed analysis of each country’s system for preventing criminal abuse of the financial system.
  • FATF worked on Pak.
    • The FATF has been really successful in putting Pakistan on a tight leash. After the FATF put restrictions, Pakistan was forced to take a number of steps including putting the main terrorist leaders behind bars. Maybe it was a cosmetic measure, but they were forced to undertake it because they would have been in a huge financial problem otherwise

 

FATF Black List & Grey List

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had decided to retain Pakistan on the “greylist”. Pakistan was placed on the ‘grey’ list in June 2018 and given a timeline to implement 27 action points.

 

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.

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.