Having failed to adequately comply with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), concerning anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures, Mongolia has been added to the FATF’s grey list along with Iraq, Zimbabwe and N.Korea.

Specialists at the Paris-based watchdog consider Mongolia is risking all foreign transactions and investments, slowing down the economy and leading to further uncertainty. In Ulaanbaatar, there is consternation at the decision. Mongolia succeeded in getting out of the grey list in 2014 after taking actions money laundering. Mongolia has worked to address weaknesses in its technical compliance with the FATF’s standards since 2017. Meanwhile, its economy is in recovery following a bailout from the International Monetary Fund in 2017.

Since the completion of its mutual evaluation report (MER) in 2017, Mongolia has made progress on a number of its MER recommended actions to improve technical compliance and effectiveness. Mongolia completed 35 out of 40 technical compliances and seven out of 11 indicates.

The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

The Mongolian Central Bank or Mongol Bank is aiming to exit from FATF grey list in 2020.