Page 47 - CPM Sri Lanka-Chartered Manager-Sept. 2021

THE INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED PROFESSIONAL MANAGERS OF SRI LANKA
JANUARY 2021

There have been various concerns over Port City
becoming a potential tax haven and money
laundering risks. What are your thoughts on
this? How have other International Financial
Centres established safeguards?

Legislations related to the Port City needs to be
considered carefully for its impact to the economy.
Certain policies intended to attract foreign investors
could lead to creating an accessible environment
for money launderers and other illegal activities.
It is therefore important to ensure supervisory
responsibility by a financial regulatory system is
present to manage these risks similar to other
international Financial Centres across the world.
Some countries have got this wrong and have
ended up in the FATF (Financial Action Task Force)
grey list. Since Sri Lanka has now come out of the
FATF grey list, we are in a good position to create
the platform for a robust due diligence process
which is similar to any reputed IFC. Since Sri Lanka
is joining the long list of IFCs as a late entrant, it is
important to maintain very high standards in this
space. Not having a robust infrastructure to curb
money laundering can bring this initiative to a
standstill.

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