What is in news : As per the officials of FATF, the review of India’s anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing regime has been postponed for the second time on account of the pandemic and is expected to take place by next year.

FATF:

• Refers to the Financial Action Task Force
• Is the watchdog of global money laundering and terrorist financing.
• Is an inter-governmental body
• Was established by the G-7 summit held in Paris in 1989.
• There are 39 members
• India is a member of FATF.
• Besides these, there are associate members and observer organizations.
• Associate members – the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG ), Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), etc.

FATF has 2 lists. They are:

Black List:

• High-risk jurisdictions have significant strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and financing of proliferation.
• For all countries identified as high-risk, the FATF calls on all members and urges all jurisdictions to apply enhanced due diligence, and, in the most serious cases, countries are called upon to apply counter-measures to protect the international financial system from money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing (ML/TF/PF) risks emanating from the country.
• This list is often referred to as the “blacklist”.

Eg: North Korea, Iran

Grey List:

• Jurisdictions under increased monitoring are actively working with the FATF to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing.
• When the FATF places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring, it means the country has committed to resolving swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring.
• This list is often referred to as the “grey list”.
• Eg: Pakistan

Consequences of Greylist for the countries:

• Economic sanctions will be imposed on the Greylist countries from the IMF, World Bank, and ADB.
• Those countries cannot get loans easily from IMF, World Bank, ADB, and other organizations.
• In these countries, there will be a reduction in international trade
• Also, there will be an international boycott on these countries.