The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday removed Turkey from its grey list of countries subject to special scrutiny, in a boost to the country’s economic transformation plan.
The latest step came after a team from the group held meetings with Turkish authorities to assess progress made in addressing those concerns.
The group said in a statement that Turkey has made “significant progress” in improving its system to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, and is no longer “subject to the increased oversight process carried out by the Financial Action Task Force.”
Investor confidence in Turkey
“In light of this development, international investors’ confidence in our country’s financial system has become stronger,” Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz wrote on the X platform.
He added, “The decision will have very positive effects on our financial sector and our real (economic) sector.”
There is little indication yet of how the market will react to the move, which was widely expected.
The lira fell slightly to 32.9340 against the dollar.
The FATF said last February that Turkey had “largely completed its action plan” and needed a field evaluation.
The group held talks in Türkiye last month to assess the country’s measures against money laundering and illicit financing.
Jamaica too
In addition to Türkiye, the International Working Group also removed Jamaica from the grey list.
Turkey was added to the grey list in 2021 over concerns about money laundering and terrorist financing practices, before being removed from the list.
There are more than 20 countries on the grey list that pose a risk to the Financial Action Task Force, an international body that includes countries including the United States and China and aims to combat financial crime.
The Financial Action Task Force is an intergovernmental organization based in Paris, founded in 1989. It works to set international standards to combat money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons, and it also evaluates the extent to which countries adhere to those standards.
