PRESS STATEMENT

MBC Urges Passage of Anti-Money Laundering Law Amendments

11 February 2003 - The Makati Business Club urges the bicameral conference committee of Congress to pass the amendments by 12 February to strengthen Republic Act 9160, the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) of2001. The provisions involve the lowering of the P4 million threshold amount to P500,000, authorizing the Anti-Money Laundering Council to freeze accounts for a longer period without a court order as well as to examine suspicious transactions, and the Bangko Sentral’s powers of examination.

These three are remaining issues out of the 40 recommendations set by the Financial Action Task Force against money laundering which have yet to be adopted by the Philippines. Compliance with these global standards of best practices in the financial sector will finally take the Philippines out of the FA TF list of non-cooperative countries and territories.

Otherwise, failure to enact these reforms by 12 February will have grave consequences on the economy as sanctions are carried out by the Financial Action Task Force. Sanctions may cause delays in incoming remittances from overseas Filipino workers and restrictions on trade flows to the country. Moreover, the Philippines runs the risk of becoming a pariah in the international business community, and a potential magnet for laundered money.

If the Philippines fails to comply with the conditions of the FATF’s February Meeting, it will remain in a sanctions list until September 2003 at the earliest, the next meeting of the FATF.

The FATF Countermeasures for Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories include the possibility of:

• Stringent client identification requirements and financial advisories on identification of beneficial owners prior to establishing business relationships with individuals or companies from the country;
  
• Systematic reporting of financial transactions with the country since they will be deemed suspicious;
  
• Difficulty in establishing bank offices and subsidiaries in FATF member countries; and
  
• Warning non-financial businesses that transactions with country will be under suspicion of money laundering.