Panama seeks to get off the FATF list this year

The technical secretary of the National Anti-Money Laundering Commission of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) of Panama, Isabel Vecchio, today stressed her country’s intention to get off the list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) of jurisdictions or countries with deficiencies in the fight against money laundering and to avoid the financing of terrorism this year.

The official expressed that the purpose is to comply with the 15 points of the organization’s action plan, according to a statement of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

“Two points have been partially fulfilled, which have to do with the identification of final beneficiaries and the access of the competent authorities to this information. We are working with the Superintendence of Non-Financial Subjects (SSNF) to complete them,” said the official.

The Panamanian Government highlighted that there would be a FATF plenary meeting where the results of a previous meeting scheduled for next month will be known.

She pointed out that the country has meetings with the FATF representatives every three months, first with the evaluators and then with the FATF plenary, in which the progress is shown, and information is received from them.

According to Vecchio, no new incidents are expected to comply with the 15 points according to the plan established in 2019, when Panama was included in the list and on which they keep working.

The official remarked that the expectation is to get off the list this year and reinforce the money laundering prevention system to continue out of these lists.