BSP, AMLC renew tieup in drive vs dirty money

MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has renewed its partnership with the Anti Money Laundering Council (AMLC) as the country continues to step up its battle against money laundering and terrorism financing.

BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno and AMLC Secretariat executive director Mel Georgie Racela inked the memorandum of agreement (MOA) updating the previous pact signed in February 2007.

“As the country’s situation has evolved through time, the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing have changed, particularly in the effective implementation of the rules governing the administrative proceedings before the AMLC,” Diokno said in a statement.

Diokno, who is the ex-officio chairman of the AMLC as BSP governor, said the MOA represents another chapter of collaboration and information-sharing between the AMLC and the BSP.

The AMLC implements and enforces Republic Act 9160 also known as the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001 (AMLA) and RA 10168, also known as the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012 (TFPSA).

The AMLC ensures the Philippines will not be used as a money laundering site for proceeds of any unlawful activity, and that the Philippines is secure from terrorism financing.

AMLC is empowered to investigate money laundering and terrorism financing, prosecute these crimes, and cause the confiscation of criminal proceeds.

The AMLC also enforces compliance by covered persons with the provisions of the AMLA, its implementing rules and regulations, and other AMLC issuances.

The BSP is empowered by RA 7653 otherwise known as the New Central Bank Act to supervise banks and quasi-banking operations of non-bank financial institutions.

With the recent passage of RA 11211, the powers of the BSP’ have now expanded to cover money service businesses, credit granting businesses, and payment system operators.

The BSP assists the AMLC in implementing the AMLA and TFPSA by supervising, assessing, and monitoring compliance with anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing requirements through the conduct of inspection, examination, audit, or other mechanisms deemed appropriate.

Malacañang earlier tasked the AMLC to lead the preparation of the third round of mutual evaluations to be undertaken by the Asia Pacific Group (APG) on money laundering this year to gauge the country’s levels of compliance.

The review consists of two phases, namely, the technical compliance assessment and the effectiveness assessment.

The first phase involves submission of the report of technical compliance by next month, which is intended to check whether the existing laws, regulations, legal issuances, and enforceable means comply with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards and criteria.

There are four possible levels of compliance: compliant, largely compliant, partially compliant and non-compliant.

The second phase includes turning in the report on the effectiveness of the country’s existing AML/CFT system.

The APG mutual evaluations team consisting of legal, financial, regulatory, FIU, and law enforcement experts visited the country last year to validate the report through a series of interviews with local supervisors, government and law enforcement agencies and private stakeholders concerned.

The results of the third evaluation would be deliberated upon and published within the year.