Panama Panama

New Documents

The U.S. Embassy in Panama announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding establishing an Anti-Money Laundering/Anti-Corruption Task Force consisting of Panamanian prosecutors, law enforcement, and regulatory officials to be trained by the FBI.

The Financial Action Task Force of Latin America published a second enhanced follow-up report of Panama’s anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing regime, highlighting that the country was re-rated on four Financial Action Task Force Recommendations.

News

Enforcement Actions

0 Items Found


Important Facts

  • The U.S. State Department labels Panama a major money laundering country. Panama’s strategic geographic location; dollarized economy; status as a regional financial, trade, and logistics hub; and favorable corporate and tax laws render it attractive for exploitation by money launderers. Money laundered in the jurisdiction primarily comes from illegal activities committed abroad, including drug trafficking, tax crimes, and smuggling of people and goods. Panama is a drug transshipment country due to its location along major trafficking routes. Criminals often launder money via bulk cash smuggling and trade at airports and seaports, through shell companies, casinos, cryptocurrencies, and the 12 active free trade zones in the country. Legal entities formed and registered in the country are at high risk for laundering activity since the use of nominee shareholders and directors is prevalent and Panama lacks a mechanism to determine beneficial ownership. Other factors hindering the country's fight against money laundering include a lack of capacity to identify bulk cash shipments, inexperience with money laundering investigations and prosecutions, inconsistent enforcement of laws and regulations, corruption, and an under-sourced judicial system. In 2019, the government passed the Ultimate Beneficial Ownership Law to create a registry of actual beneficiaries for legal entities. However, implementation of the law was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
-Source: 2021 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR)

Rankings

FATF i | 2013 Methodology

Technical Effectiveness
Compliant : 15 High : 0
Largely Compliant : 23 Substantial : 2
Partially Compliant : 2 Moderate : 6
Non-Compliant : 0 Low : 3

A "graylisted" country as of June 21, 2019. Panama's technical compliance was most recently re-rated in an Aug. 22, 2019 follow-up report

BASEL i

Rank : 82/110
Score : 6.0/10

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL i

Rank : 111/179
Score : 35/100

Tax Justice Network i

Rank : 15/133
Score : 72/100