“It is clear” the Philippines “is committed to strengthening anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism [AML/CFT],”… and the country “has implemented more stringent requirements, says Choon Hong Chua of Moody’s Analytics Inc, in an interview with Philippine news outlet BusinessWorld.

Moody’s Analytics is a separate entity from Moody’s Investors Service Inc, which issues credit opinions.

In June 2021, the Paris-based watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) put the Philippines on its “grey list” of jurisdictions it says require increased monitoring regarding financial crime risk.

The organisation’s most recent plenary session in February did not take action to remove the country from that list, though Philippine politicians have several times recently indicated such a step could come soon.

Mr Chua, Moody’s Analytics’ senior director and head of financial crime practice group for Asia Pacific and the Middle East, was cited as saying in Monday’s news report that there was a “high incidence” of money laundering linked to gaming activities, including online gambling and land-based casinos.

He added: “Besides these activities, a large proportion of money laundering activity in the region is also linked to organised crime and complex scam operations, some of which are set up in the Philippines.”

An analytical tool called the Moody’s Grid database indicated that from 2018 to 2023, the Philippines was among the top five countries in Southeast Asia with money laundering activity, reported BusinessWorld.

“From 2022 to 2023, the number of money laundering events added in the Philippines increased 45 percent,” the news outlet cited the database as indicating.

But Mr Chua was himself cited as mentioning the pledge of the current national administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr to make improvements.

The Moody’s Analytics senior director stated: “We have seen the current regime take an active step to improve the level of AML competency in the banking sector.”

The Philippines’ Anti-Money Laundering Council has said it is working this year to increase investigations and prosecutions related to dirty money.

According to Mr Chua, the nation’s private sector “also has a part to play by adhering to the requirements promptly to lift the Philippines out of the grey list.”