What are the keys to get off the FATF gray list

Despite the attempts you have made Panamathey continue to include it in the gray list FATFbefore them authorities on Ministry of Economy and Finance (MPEG) They point to a series of measures to get out of that qualification.

Isabel Vecchio, MEF Director of Financial Strategy and International Taxation He stated: “We work as a team with the private sector, including banking, business, the National Bar, the International Bar Association, among others; but also to the institutions dealing with the prevention of money laundering, to leave the gray list of the FATF this year”.

Panama was included in the FATF gray list in June 2019, after the evaluation process that was carried out in the country as part of the fourth round of mutual evaluations of GAFILAT, which was focused on efficiency. “First we were evaluated for technical issues, and later this fourth round focused on how the country applied those regulations, that is, efficiency,” Vecchio emphasized.

The Director of Financial Strategywho is also the technical secretary of the National Commission for Combating Money Laundering, Financing of Terrorism and the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (CNBC), added that in the Panama Action Plan “there are 15 points, 13 of which we classified as largely compliant and the other 2 partially harmonized, with the emphasis that we do not have anything as “non-compliant, which is important to point out”.

He repeated that there is currently a register of end users, which is a closed register, created by Law 129 of 2020where the resident agent must include information about the legal entities it represents, including the identification of the end user.

This process does not take away competitiveness of the country whereas all jurisdictions will have to implement it in due course; therefore, those countries that have a register of end users will have their information in time.

He indicated that this information is available to competent authorities in matters of prevention money laundering, upon request or request for the purpose of international cooperation, investigation, verification or the like. He also commented that the price of remaining on the gray list implies a reputational cost, and pointed out that the reality of Panama today is not the same as it was five years ago. “We have implemented effective and sustainable controls over time and we are showing it.”

In the case of the so-called “Panama Papers”the name of our country was used in an inappropriate way; Panama It is a country that cooperates at the international level in terms of transparency and when information is requested, we have a timely and quite agile response time compared to other jurisdictions, Director Vecchio pointed out.

“End user identification is a world demand and all countries must apply it, and little by little, we must adapt to this reality, and even when the resident agent withdraws from the legal entity, it must keep data for at least five years,” he added.

He repeated that a big registration day for lawyers and resident agents is currently being held in Atlapa, with the purpose of their registration in the Register of End Users, a day that he called Administration for Non-Financial Entities (SSNF).

“We hope that this year we will fully comply with our action plan, in order to exclude the country from FATF gray listVecchio concluded.