A ferry glides on the waters of the Golden Horn at sunset, with the Suleymaniye Mosque and the Turkish city of Istanbul in the background.
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The Financial Action Task Force, an international watchdog group dedicated to combating money laundering and illicit cash flows, on Friday removed Turkey from its “grey list” of countries requiring special monitoring, a major vote of confidence in the country during the crisis. Economic turnaround efforts.
“The Financial Action Task Force welcomes Turkey’s significant progress in improving its anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism regime,” the Paris-based group wrote in its latest report, using the Turkish government’s choice of the country’s name. Spelling and abbreviation for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism.
It said Turkey has strengthened the effectiveness of its anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism regime to address “deficiencies” listed in the FATF’s October 2021 monitoring report.
These shortcomings include Financial Action Task Force concerns about unregistered money transfer services, insufficient resources dedicated to 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 Insufficient oversight of non-profit organizations could, among other things, be used to finance terrorism.
The FATF found in its 2021 report that Turkey’s banking, construction and real estate industries are vulnerable to illicit financing from U.N.-sanctioned groups such as the Islamic State and Al Qaeda.
In its 2024 findings, the regulator concluded that Turkey “is no longer subject to the FATF’s enhanced monitoring processes” but “should continue to work with the FATF to maintain improvements to its AML/CFT system, including continuing to ensure that it Supervision of the for-profit sector is risk-based and consistent with FATF standards.
The Turkish government welcomed the news, with its finance minister, Mehmet Simsek, writing on social media platform along with a Turkish flag emoji.
Turkish Vice President Devet Yilmaz said: “With this development, international investors have greater confidence in our country’s financial system. This decision will have an extremely positive impact on the financial sector and the economy.”
The FATF announcement could boost Turkey’s economic turnaround after years of high inflation, currency depreciation and shaky foreign investment levels.
Mohamed Daoud, head of Moody’s industrial practice, described the potential positive impact of the new name.
Daoud said: “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 the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.”
“This development is expected to enhance Turkey’s international reputation, potentially boosting foreign investment and relations with European and US institutions.”
