A ferry glides across the Golden Horn at sunset with the Suleymaniye Mosque and the city of Istanbul, Turkey in the background.
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The Financial Action Task Force, an international watchdog organization dedicated to combating money laundering and illicit cash flows, on Friday removed Turkey from its “gray list” of countries requiring special monitoring, handing the country a major vote of confidence in its economic recovery efforts.
“The FATF welcomes Türkiye’s significant progress in improving its AML/CFT regime,” the Paris-based organization wrote in its latest report, using the Turkish government’s spelling of its country’s name and the acronym for “Anti-Money Laundering and combating the financing of terrorism.” .
It said Turkey had strengthened the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime to address “deficiencies” identified by the FATF in its October 2021 monitoring report.
These deficiencies included FATF concerns about unregistered money transfer services, inadequate resources for terrorist financing investigations, alleged involvement in sanctions evasion, lack of oversight of high-risk sectors used for money laundering, such as banking and real estate, and inadequate oversight of nonprofit organizations could be used, among other things, to finance terrorism.
The FATF had found in its 2021 report that sectors such as banking, construction and real estate in Turkey were vulnerable to illegal financing from UN-sanctioned groups such as the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda.
The watchdog organization concluded in its 2024 findings that Turkey “is no longer subject to the FATF’s enhanced surveillance process,” but that it “should continue to cooperate with the FATF to maintain its improvements in its AML/CFT system.” , among other things, by further ensuring its supervision of the NPO [nonprofit organization] The sector is risk-based and compliant with FATF standards.
The Turkish government welcomed the news. Their Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek wrote on the social media platform
Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said: “With this development, the trust of international investors in our country’s financial system has become even stronger. The decision will have extremely positive consequences for the financial sector and the economy.”
The FATF announcement is expected to give a boost to Turkey’s efforts to turn around its economy after years of high inflation, a devaluation of the local currency and uneven foreign investment.
Mohamed Daoud, head of industry practice at ratings agency Moody’s, described the expected positive impact of the new designation.
“Turkey’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Gray List is a recognition of the significant progress made by the Turkish government and various economic sectors in strengthening their fight against money laundering and terrorist financing,” Daoud said.
“This development is expected to strengthen Turkey’s reputation internationally and potentially promote foreign investment and relations with European and US institutions.”
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2024-06-28 19:41:12
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