THE Philippines has officially been removed from a global dirty money watchlist after nearly four years of heightened monitoring by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The intergovernmental organization late on Friday commended the country for addressing anti-money laundering,

The Philippines has been taken off a global watchdog’s dirty-money list, a move that could spur remittances and foreign investments in one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global anti-money laundering watchdog, said on Friday it had removed the Philippines from its 'grey' list of countries under increased scrutiny, while it added Laos and Nepal to that list.

The Philippine government welcomed the country’s removal from a global watchdog’s dirty-money list, which could spur remittances and foreign investments in one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies. The Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) decision to take Manila off the list is expected to “facilitate faster and lower-cost cross-border transactions,