The Financial Action Task Force has put Gibraltar on its grey list of jurisdictions subject to increased monitoring after finding that the overseas territory's regulators are not fining offenders in line with prescribed penalties or focusing hard enough on intermediaries, including lawyers.
FATF acted on 17 June after a meeting of its plenary decision-making body in which it also took Malta off its grey list.
Malta Chamber of SMEs welcomed Malta's exit from the FATF grey list in a statement last week.
Gibraltar now sits on the list of "jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies" with the UAE, Cayman Islands, Barbados and Panama among others.
FATF chair Marcus Pleyer said in a press statement: "Gibraltar needs to take a number of steps including focusing on gatekeepers to the financial system, including gambling operators and lawyers. At the moment, supervisors are not applying sufficient fines for anti-money laundering failings.
"This is important as the gambling sector in Gibraltar is large and is aimed at foreign jurisdictions."
According to local channel GBC online, the Gibraltar government said in early reaction that the increased monitoring is in respect of only two points: 1) Pursuing regulatory sanctions, and 2) Pursuing final confiscation judgements. It says this is down from 78 points in the Moneyval report.
Gibraltar has action points it needs to complete by May 2023 and said it was committed, at the highest political level, to show full compliance within the timescale given.
It further said the Government's understanding is that Gibraltar's final Action Plan is the shortest (being only two points) of any country or jurisdiction that has been identified as under the increased monitoring process.
