benjamin e diokno : 2021 annual anti - money laundering / counter terrorism financing summit message by mr benjamin e diokno, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), for the 2021 annual anti - money laundering / counter terrorism financing summit, hosted by the anti - money laundering council and fintelekt, virtual, 21 november 2021. * * * welcome to the virtual 2021 annual anti - money laundering / counter - terrorism financing ( aml / ctf ) summit, hosted by the anti - money laundering council and fintelekt. it is a pleasure to come together with you as we carry on with the crucial task of fighting and preventing money laundering and terrorism financing. in 2017, the amlc approved the second national risk assessment – or nra – report, covering the years 2015 and 2016, to reinforce the philippines ’ aml / ctf regime. the second nra found that the level of national money laundering threat is high, arising from the predicate crimes of drug trafficking ; graft and corruption ; fraud ; tax crimes ; smuggling ; intellectual property law violations ; illegal manufacture and possession of firearms, ammunition, and explosives ; and environmental crimes. banks and money service businesses were identified to be the sectors primarily and widely used by criminals to launder the proceeds of crimes. the level of national money laundering vulnerability, on the other hand, is medium. casinos have high vulnerability, while money service businesses and pawnshops have mediumhigh vulnerability. the rest of the sector is medium. however, terrorism threat in the philippines is high. likewise, terrorism financing vulnerability and terrorism financing threat are both high as such organizations appear to have a systematic and established method of raising funds for their operations. based on the overall evaluation of factors, the national money laundering and terrorism financing threat is high ; while the national money laundering and terrorism financing vulnerability is medium. thus, the level of money laundering and terrorism financing risk is medium - high. this assessment is definitely a cause for concern, but the amlc has bolstered and implemented risk - mitigation aml / ctf strategies and initiatives, even in the face of the pandemic. the amlc continues to protect the integrity of the philippine financial system pursuant to the anti - money laundering act of 2001, as amended ; the terrorism financing prevention and suppression act of 2012 ; and, just recently, the anti - terrorism act of 2012. allow me to go over

of 1997 - and seemed like a remote event of no great significance to most americans - has set off a chain reaction reaching around the world. much of asia is in deep recession, the russian economy has collapsed with negative repercussions for many of its neighbors, growth is slowing in latin america. risk aversion of investors has made it difficult for any country, company or venture perceived as at all risky to get capital or to borrow, even at high rates. countries like brazil, mexico and argentina, considered quite strong a few months ago, are under mounting pressure. brazil has had to raise interest rates, use much of its foreign exchange reserves to keep its currency from depreciating ; the high interest rates, in turn, have greatly exacerbated brazil ’ s budget deficit, and the deteriorating outlook has led to fears that investors will pull their capital out and bankers refuse to roll over debts. economic collapse in brazil, which is latin america ’ s largest economy, could precipitate serious trouble in other latin american countries and then reverberate back around the globe to deepen the trouble of asia, including hong kong, china and japan. another round of deepening deterioration would surely put intense downward pressure on the us economy by cutting our exports, depressing equity markets and weakening investor and consumer confidence. as chairman alan greenspan has said, we cannot expect to be an “ oasis of prosperity ” in a deteriorating world economy. even if we could stay prosperous alone, we should not want to take the risk that deteriorating economies in the rest of the world would augment unrest, terrorism and international conflict that could engulf the united states. what ’ s to be done? in the near term there are clearly two priorities : ⇒ stop the contagion so that emerging market countries can begin to get back on their feet. ⇒ keep the world ’ s largest economy from slowing down too much - for our own sake and the world ’ s. there is no easy, simple answer to stopping contagion, if indeed there is any answer. what would be the elements of a plan? first, countries most in danger of being the next to fall have to be willing to face up to their vulnerability quickly. ( there is no point in moaning, “ it ’ s not our fault, we didn ’ t do anything wrong ; we just got caught in the world backwash. ” that ’ s partly true, but not helpful. ) they have to be willing to