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Rabat – Morocco has been removed from an international grey list that warrants increased surveillance for money laundering, global intergovernmental money laundering watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has announced.
FATF placed the North African country on its grey list in February 2021, putting it in the same category as countries such as Syria, Panama, and Yemen, which have pervasive money laundering and terrorist financing concerns.
The organization justified its designation of Morocco to the country’s “failure” to follow FATF’s recommendations in regard to limiting money laundering and terrorist financing.
Following its three-day plenary meeting in Paris between February 22 and 24, the organization announced that both Morocco and Cambodia are “no longer under increased monitoring.”
FATF recognized Morocco and Cambodia’s “progress” in improving their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) regimes, “covered by their individual action plans.”
“Each country has addressed its technical deficiencies to meet the commitments of its action plan on strategic deficiencies that the FATF identified in February 2019 and 2021 respectively,” added the organization.
However, the two countries will continue working with the FATF-Style Regional Body (FSRB) to “further strengthen their AML/CFT.” Both Morocco and Cambodia are members of the FSRB, which are autonomous regional organizations that help FATF implement its global policies.
FATF’s decision to take Morocco off its grey list comes after the country “made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and MENAFATF to strengthen the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime” in February 2021.
During the organization’s October 2022 plenary, FATF recognized that Morocco has “substantially completed its action plan and warrants an on-site assessment.”
Headed by FATF President T. Raja Kumar, the three-day discussion saw the participation of more than 200 jurisdictions of the Global Network.
Besides Morocco and Cambodia, the organization discussed the status of several other countries, including Russia, South Africa, Nigeria, Qatar, and Indonesia.
Read Also: Morocco Has Moderate Exposure To Money Laundering Risks
