Stronger anti-money laundering law pushed

Malacañang has certified as urgent a bill seeking to put more teeth to the country’s existing Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) as regulators called for tougher measures against the crime.

Amando Tetangco Jr., governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, said the Palace has responded to the central bank’s call for further amendments to AMLA by asking Congress to prioritize the bill.

The BSP chief said that implementation of the proposed amendments would help the Philippines catch more money launderers and make the country fully compliant with international standards against the crime.

Money laundering is the act of making funds acquired from illegal activities appear legitimate, such as by depositing the money in banks or investing in portfolio instruments.

The law requires banks to report to the Anti-Money Laundering Council suspicious transactions made by their clients. It also mandates banks to report on a regular basis transactions that amount to at least P500,000 so authorities can check the nature of those activities.

One of the proposed amendments to strengthen the law would require more entities, such as casinos, and professionals like accountants, lawyers, real estate dealers and traders of precious metals and stones to report suspicious transactions to the AMLC.

Another proposed amendment is the establishment of a reward system that will aid in the arrest of money launderers.

“We look forward to the enactment of these amendments,” Tetangco said in a speech delivered the Tuesday during a forum on anti-money laundering organized by Egmont Group, an international body that promotes the exchange of information and expertise for financial development.

Tetangco said that strengthening the law against money laundering was needed to make authorities catch up with the increasing strategies to launder money.

“The challenge for Egmont Group members is to be proactive in identifying and addressing our weak spots in the way we fight money launderers and terrorist financiers. We have to be alert, committed and most of all united,” Tetangco said.

The Philippines used to be in the blacklist of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international organization that fights financial crimes like money laundering, for allegedly having weak regulations against money laundering.