https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/05/12/business/top-business/sec-to-sustain-reforms-with-eye-on-fatf-review/2110765

THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will sustain and expand its reform measures ahead of the next scheduled evaluation of global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 2027.

At a ceremony in Malacañang on May 5, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. cited the SEC's efforts in anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CFT) activities as pivotal to the removal of the Philippines from the FATF's grey list earlier this year.

In June 2021, the FATF placed the country on its monitoring list due to deficiencies in AML/CFT framework, to which the SEC responded by initiating a sweeping set of reforms, particularly in beneficial ownership transparency, non-profit organi-zation (NPO) regulation, and corporate compliance.

"The next two years will be crucial as we gear toward the next round of mutual evaluation," SEC Chairman Emilio Aquino said, stressing the commission's role in upholding financial integrity through regulatory innovation and enforcement.

Among the measures that helped the country meet international standards were the 2021 ban on bearer shares — a long-standing loophole often exploited for anonymous ownership — and a revised General Information Sheet requiring detailed beneficial ownership disclosures. These actions sought to prevent the misuse of corporate entities for illicit financial flows.

In 2023, the SEC launched a reportorial amnesty program, boosting compliance among corporations from 26 percent in 2021 to 69 percent by early 2025. It also ramped up oversight of NPOs, auditing high-risk organizations and encouraging nearly 8,000 unregistered entities to formally incorporate.

Moving forward, the SEC said it will continue modernizing its systems. It recently launched the Hierarchical and Applica-ble Relations and Beneficial Ownership Registry (Harbor), a digital platform to collect and verify ownership data in real time.

Harbor is an online platform that enables the submission and updating of beneficial ownership information to provide faster and more reliable data to businesses, regulators and government agencies.

While the country's grey list exit marked a milestone, the SEC said consistent implementation of reforms will be vital in ensuring the Philippines remains off the FATF watchlist in the next mutual evaluation.

"This serves as a testament to our hard work and commitment to enhance and uphold financial integri-ty in the Philippines, especially in the corporate sector," Aquino said. "The SEC remains steadfast in its commitment to leverage innovation to enhance transparency in the corporate sector and to strength-en its enforcement and monitoring capabilities to ensure that companies are not misused for illicit activities."