Panama: Financial Sector Assessment Program - Technical Note on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT)

Panama has struggled to bring its anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime in line with international standards, resulting in periods of being “grey listed” by the international standard-setter, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Panama’s AML/CFT regime was last assessed against the FATF standards in 2017. Panama’s mutual evaluation identified strategic deficiencies within the country’s AML/CFT regime, notably in preventing the misuse of legal persons and arrangements for money laundering purposes. As a result, Panama was grey listed by the FATF in June 2019, where it remained until October 2023, beyond the expiration of its action plan deadlines in January 2021 and following increased pressure from the FATF. Having demonstrated completion of all items of its action plan, confirmed through an onsite visit that took place in September 2023, the country exited the grey list at the FATF October 2023 Plenary.