The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is boosting efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing in line with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), The FATF is an intergovernmental money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog that sets international standards to prevent such illegal activities.
The SEC said it signed data-sharing agreements (DSAs) with nine law enforcement agencies and authorities, granting them access to beneficial ownership information of corporations registered with the commission.
These agencies include the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Insurance Commission, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, National Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice, Philippine Center on Transnational Crime, Department of Agriculture (DA), Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).
“In this era where data is gold and financial fraud, including cyber fraud, loom large—collaboration between the SEC and law enforcement is not just beneficial; it’s imperative,” SEC chairperson Emilio B. Aquino said in his keynote speech during the signing ceremony held Friday afternoon.
“First and foremost, sharing corporate data with law enforcement is a powerful tool in combating crime. By providing law enforcement agencies access to pertinent data, we empower them to investigate and apprehend these perpetrators swiftly and effectively,” he added.
Beneficial owners of a corporation are distinguished from legal owners, which are defined as natural or juridical persons who, in accordance with the law, owns or has the controlling ownership interest over the corporation, or has the ability of taking relevant decisions within the corporation and impose those resolutions.
At the same time, Aquino said the SEC is also pursing is database with the recent move to suspend the corporate registration of close to 118,000 corporations for failing to comply with their reportorial requirements.
These suspended firm were given a period of 30 days to avail of existing remedies under the laws, rules and regulations of the SEC.
Once the non-compliant firms are removed from the SEC’s database, Aquino is confident that it will be able o meet the 65 percent compliance rate on beneficial ownership requirements, which is one of the remaining conditions for the company’s exclusion from FTAF’s graylist.
At present, Philippines is at 50.7 percent compliant.
FATF is a Paris-based inter-governmental body that sets international anti-money laundering and terrorist financing standards established in 1989.
