On the cusp of FATF exit.

Pakistan has crossed the finish line but has to wait another quarter of the year to secure an international certificate and get out of the 'list of increased monitoring' - the so-called grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

On Friday, the Paris-based global watchdog against financial crimes, particularly anti-money laundering and combating financing terror (AML/CFT) said it would soon be sending a technical team to Pakistan for an onsite visit to verify that the 'implementation of Pakistan's AML/CFT reforms has begun and is being sustained and that the necessary political commitment remains in place to sustain implementation and improvement in the future'. The verification would result in Pakistan's formal 'delisting' from the grey list.

The June 13-17 FATF plenary held in Berlin unanimously cleared, according to junior minister for foreign affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, that Pakistan had largely and substantially completed 34 points of two simultaneous action plans against money laundering (ML) and terror financing (TF).

Delegates representing 206 FATF members and observers including the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations (UN), the World Bank and the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units attended the plenary session. Pakistan's all stakeholders and authorities would have to be more cautious during this time to ensure there are no slips.

Standing so close to the finish line is no mean achievement in a culture where every shop had fundraising and collection points and where private armed mafias could operate with impunity and get protection from the highest level

Moreover, it is easier to complete the action plan and get out of the increased monitoring list but it is more challenging to remain part of the global regulatory system on a sustainable basis. It has to be remembered that Pakistan was placed on the FATF grey list in June 2010 for strategic deficiencies in AML/CFT regime and came out of it in February 2015.

Read more: A timeline of Pakistan's unfortunate 'grey listing' by FATF

But it slipped again in the following years owing to a series of terrorist attacks and risk assessments pertaining to activities including funding of terror groups, individuals and non-governmental organisations, particularly those on the UN lists. The FATF and regional associates also identified ML and TF risks through corruption, drug trafficking, fraud, tax evasion, smuggling, human trafficking and organised crime etc.

Under...