- Pakistan is facing the risk of being greylisted by the Asia Pacific Group (APG).Pakistan has a high non-compliant rate of nearly 70% on 40 recommendations against money laundering and terrorist financing.
- Earlier,Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had decided to keep Pakistan on its grey list.It means downgrading of the country by institutions like IMF,World Bank,ADB,EU and also reduction in risk rating by Moody’s, Fitch and S&P.
- The APG is the FATF-style regional body for the Asia-Pacific region.APG was founded in Bangkok,Thailand in 1997 as an autonomous regional anti-money laundering body by unanimous agreement among 13 original founding members.
- The Asia Pacific Group currently consists of 41 members including India.It is focused on ensuring that its members effectively implement the international standards against money laundering,terrorist financing and proliferation financing related to weapons of mass destruction.
- The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 on the initiative of the G7.It is a “policy-making body” which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in various areas.The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.
- The objectives of the FATF are to (a) set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures (b) for combating money laundering (c)terrorist financing and (d) other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
