The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has notified Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Regulations, 2018.

The regulations are fully compliant with Financial Action Task Force Recommendations, which are mandatory to adopt for Pakistan as a member of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering.

In new regulations, focus has been enhanced towards high-risk areas and taking a risk based approach towards combating money laundering and financing of terrorism. 

In order to ensure that criminals are not able to hide their identity through use of complex ownership structure of companies, partnerships, trusts or other similar forms, the financial institutions are required to identify the ultimate beneficial owner before offering their services to them.