The Philippines faces the risk of joining a global money-laundering blacklist after it failed to approve all required amendments to legislation on illegal movement of money, threatening its ability to attract foreign investment.
Ending up on the Financial Action Task Force blacklist would also make it difficult for Filipinos abroad to send money home and for local banks to transact business overseas.
Congress ended sessions on Wednesday without acting on a measure that will expand the list of crimes linked to money laundering and the list of institutions that must report to the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
But lawmakers passed two bills – one authorizing the council to look into suspect accounts without the need to inform owners, and the other criminalizing terrorist financing – which they hoped were enough to convince the council to defer any action.
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