Banks struggling to keep their correspondents and restrictions for Panamanian companies in the external financial market, are some of the consequences of being on the FATF’s gray list.

The Panamanian government expects to submit, within the next month, a bill to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, which seeks to control the vast majority of economic activities by requiring additional controls to those which do not have increased supervision. With this measure they hope to get off the gray list and meet the deadline set by the Financial Action Group, which expires in June.

Prensa.com reports that “… The level of demand for each sector will be defined when the results come in of a risk assessment which is being worked on by the Government and the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund to identify the activities that are more likely to be infiltrated by money laundering and terrorist financing. ”

The president of the Banking Association of Panama, Carlos Troetsch, added “… The inclusion of non-financial sectors in this commitment is required in order to have an impact on the country’s image and because of the forced correlation between the unions concerned, a situation which arises from a service economy.” “… Next month, with the bill being brought to the Assembly, should see the start of public discussions. The country has a limited time period in which to find a solution to a big challenge.”

Source: Prensa.com

Here it a Perspective on the Inclusion of Panama on the FATF Gray List