FATF Grey List February 2025 Update: Laos and Nepal Added, Philippines Removed

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has released an updated list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, popularly known as the Grey List, and here’s what’s changed:

The Philippines was removed from the FATF Grey List in February 2025, depicting a forward trend in Anti-Money Laundering, Countering Terrorism Financing, and Counter-Proliferation Financing (AML, CTF, and CPF) controls adopted by it.

At the same time, Laos and Nepal have been added to the list, requiring them to address the strategic deficiencies in their regulatory regime to counter Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing, and Proliferation Financing (PF) activities.

However, the remaining countries have been retained in the list, signalling the scope for improvement.

This update requires the regulated entities to reconsider their Internal Policies, Procedures, and Controls (IPPC) to ensure adequate Customer Due Diligence measures are applied while engaging with customers originating from or closely associated with the countries newly added to the FATF Grey List.