Panama is highly committed to getting its name cleared and removed from the Money Laundering ‘Gray List’. It is implementing a registry of company ownership which is part of its final steps in getting itself removed from the G7 list.
According to Financial Times, Panama was earlier listed as G7’s notorious ‘gray list’ country due to insufficient anti-money laundering controls.
President of Panama, Mr. Laurentino Cortizo told the press that they were developing a beneficial registry of company ownership. It will resolve the existing issues with the anti-money laundering controls and will be introduced later this year. The EU’s FATF found loopholes in the AML system of Panama.
The President added that “We are expecting to exit the FATF’s grey list later this year. We have made enormous efforts to do so. I am personally supervising the team working on this issue.”
Panama had it in its plan to create and implement the registry of companies to tackle the AML issues. The US is backing Panama which is already accused of being a hub of offshore shell companies that are helping money launderers conceal their fund’s ownerships.
Source: Panama expects to be removed from money laundering 'grey list' this year
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