Making every effort to remove Vietnam from the Gray List on anti-money laundering

At the meeting of the Steering Committee for Anti-Money Laundering, representatives of ministries and branches discussed coordination and implementation of actions committed to FATF on anti-money laundering.

Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc, Head of the Steering Committee for Anti-Money Laundering, speaks. (Photo: An Dang/VNA)

On the afternoon of December 12, chairing a meeting of the Steering Committee for Anti-Money Laundering, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc, Head of the Steering Committee, emphasized that the Financial Action Task Force on Anti-Money Laundering (FATF) has put Vietnam on the Grey List (enhanced review list). This will greatly affect the economy .

Promote actions

The Deputy Prime Minister said that the FATF inspection team also made 17 recommendations for action for Vietnam to address shortcomings in the mechanism to prevent and combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It is necessary to promote the completion of actions and make every effort to get off this list.

Giving opinions on researching and perfecting the legal basis for virtual asset management; amending and supplementing the Enterprise Law; perfecting the system of legal documents on anti-money laundering... The Deputy Prime Minister requested the State Bank of Vietnam - the standing agency of the Steering Committee to perfect the secretariat to work with ministries and branches.

Any incomplete issues must be immediately sent to ministries and branches, requesting reports on implementation. Ministries and branches must urgently prioritize resources to implement the action plan committed to FATF; pay attention to the reporting regime to have a complete and vivid report; notify the implementation results and propose technical assistance to the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) every 3 months and ad hoc when requested through the State Bank - the standing agency of the Steering Committee.

The Deputy Prime Minister noted that ministries and branches need to arrange specialized and competent staff to deploy and synthesize the implementation of actions and build progress reports.

The State Bank is responsible for reviewing the information, issuing written instructions, and requesting additional data for any missing information.

Regarding the actions taken by ministries and sectors, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc requested ministries and sectors to proactively study the FATF recommendations, the methodology of the recommendations, the requirements of the FATF/APG Joint Assessment Group, and the documents sent by the State Bank to organize the implementation and develop a report to send to FATF/APG. At the same time, there should be a mechanism to quickly handle matters within the functions and tasks and propose to competent authorities to approve the mechanism for issues beyond the functions and tasks in implementing the National Action Plan.

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the State Bank to synthesize information from ministries and branches to report to the Prime Minister every 3 months. In case of urgent requests, it must be reported immediately. Quickly connect with countries that have entered and exited the Grey List to organize exchange sessions and learn from experiences on related contents.

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other ministries and branches to arrange quality resources to translate specialized documents of ministries and branches to ensure accuracy and efficiency. "To show FATF that we are making great efforts to implement recommendations for action, from drafting legal documents to complying with legal regulations. For example, we have actually prosecuted and investigated money laundering, and in fact, there have been cases where assets have been recovered from abroad," the Deputy Prime Minister stated.

FATF is considering putting Vietnam on the Blacklist.

Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Pham Tien Dung said that over the past time, the State Bank has made efforts to fulfill its role as the standing body of the Steering Committee. After the multilateral assessment of the Asia-Pacific Group on anti-money laundering for Vietnam ended in 2019 and had results in January 2022, the State Bank advised and submitted to the Prime Minister for signing and promulgation the National Action Plan on preventing and combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction for the period 2021-2025 (Decision No. 941/QD-TTg).

When FATF officially put Vietnam on the Grey List (June 2023), the State Bank consulted and submitted to the Prime Minister to sign Decision 194/QD-TTg promulgating the National Action Plan to implement the Vietnamese Government's commitments on preventing and combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The State Bank has proactively researched and consulted international experts of APG to develop a report outline to help ministries and branches grasp the overall picture and information requirements for each action; have a plan to collect information and data consistently and consistently; closely follow the requirements of the Joint Assessment Group (JG). At the same time, discuss with representatives of APG, donors, and international organizations to request support and advice for Vietnam to implement the National Action Plan and how to develop a Progress Report (FATF/APG requires reporting every 3 months).

By the Second Progress Report (PR2) - September 2024, 8/17 actions have expired. Despite certain efforts, according to the JG's assessment, Vietnam has 16/17 "uncompleted" actions and 1 "partially completed" action.

With the above limited progress, APG has informed that FATF is considering adding Vietnam to the FATF Countermeasures List (Black List). The State Bank has just compiled and sent the PR3 Report to FATF on November 25.

Through the work of synthesizing and developing the Report, most ministries and branches have not yet provided information according to the outline developed by the State Bank. Progress in this Reporting period is still limited and has not met the requirements of the Joint Assessment Team.

At the meeting, representatives of ministries and branches discussed contents related to coordination and implementation of actions committed to FATF; work on perfecting the legal system, propagating and disseminating laws; work on inspection, examination, supervision, prevention, and combating of crimes; learning and referring to international experiences to further improve the effectiveness of anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism financing and anti-weapons of mass destruction financing./.

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