Hammad Azhar to represent Pakistan in FATF
14 October, 2019
PARIS: The Pakistani delegation, which will present the compliance report before the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), arrived in Paris on Sunday to attend a round of the financial watchdog's meetings.
Minister for Economic Affairs Division Hammad Azhar, who is heading the delegation, will present Pakistan's compliance report that details the measures taken by the government to curb terror financing and money laundering, in accordance with FATF's guidelines.
According to Radio Pak, the body will review the "progress" made by Pakistan until April this year, during the FATF Week, which began on October 13 and will conclude on October 16. Along with Pakistan, the body will also review the progress made by Iran and other countries "that present a risk to the financial system". A press statement will be released on October 18.
Pakistan is looking to get off FATF's 'grey list', on which it was placed last year after the body decided that the country had failed to take enough measures to curb money laundering and terror financing.
The FATF Week will focus on "disrupting financial flows linked to crime and terrorism and discuss ways to contribute to global safety and security". The round of meetings will be attended by representatives from 205 countries as well as jurisdictions around the world, including the International Monetary Fund, United Nations, World Bank and other organisations.
The Asia-Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering released its mutual evaluation report on Oct 2, which discussed measures that were in place in Pakistan during the onsite visit conducted in October 2018. The APG is a regional body of the FATF, which requires its members to undergo mutual evaluation of the anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism frameworks.
“According to the APG report, out of the 40 recommendations given to Pakistan, the country has shown compliance in one (area), Financial Institutions Secrecy Law, and has shown noncompliance in four areas,” stated brokerage firm Topline Securities in its report.
“However, Pakistan is partially compliant on 26 and largely compliant on nine recommendations,” it added. It mentioned that Pakistan has shown decent progress since October 2018.
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