Monaco, Venezuela Placed on Global Money-Laundering Watch List

A global financial watchdog has censored Monaco and Venezuela for not doing enough to strengthen their anti-money-laundering and counterterrorist financing systems.

The Financial Action Task Force, a Paris-based intergovernmental body that sets anti-money-laundering law standards, met this week in Singapore and added the two countries to its “grey list” of nations requiring increased monitoring. The FATF said it would work with the two countries to address the deficiencies identified in their anti-money-laundering systems.

The FATF also removed Jamaica and Turkey from the grey list, saying the two nations had made significant progress in improving their anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism financing regimes.

There has been speculation for some time that Monaco would be added to the gray list, according to news reports earlier this year.

Wealthy people from around the world have in recent years flocked to Monaco, one of the smallest sovereign states, because of its favorable tax policies, forking over millions for luxury rental apartments . Some real-estate agents in Monaco said before Friday’s announcement that they expect little impact on the residential market from the principality being added to the gray list.

The FATF said Monaco has made some improvements to its anti-money-laundering regime since December 2022, including through the establishment of a new combined financial intelligence unit and anti-money-laundering supervisor. But the principality still needs to improve in six areas, including its understanding of the risks related to money laundering and income-tax fraud committed abroad, and its implementation of penalties for violations of anti-money-laundering and beneficial ownership requirements, the FATF said.

For Venezuela, the FATF said the country needs to work on issues such as its investigation and prosecution of money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as ensuring its measures to prevent the misuse of nonprofit organizations for terrorism financing aren’t disrupting or discouraging legitimate humanitarian efforts.

Representatives for Monaco’s embassy in Washington and Venezuela’s mission to the United Nations didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The FATF’s plenary also marked the end of T. Raja Kumar of Singapore as president of the organisation. Elisa de Anda Madrazo of Mexico will take over as FATF president on July 1.

Porsche car deliveries fell 10% in 2025 as demand was hit by a slowdown in luxury spending in China and as it ceased production of its 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman models through the year.

The German luxury sports-car maker said Friday that it delivered 279,449 cars in the year, down from 310,718 in 2024.

The company had a tumultuous year as it contended with a stuttering transition to electric vehicles and a tough Chinese market, while the Trump administration’s automotive tariffs presented a further headwind.

Deliveries in its largest sales region of North America were virtually flat at 86,229, but continued challenges in China meant deliveries in the country dropped 26% to 41,938 vehicles.

Automakers have faced intense competition in China, sparking a prolonged price war as rivals cut prices to win customers, while a lengthy property market slump and economic-growth concerns in the country has also led to buyers pulling back on luxury spending.

“Key reasons for the decline remain the challenging market conditions, particularly in the luxury segment, and the very intense competition in the Chinese market, especially for all-electric models,” the company said.

Other German brands including Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have all recently reported that the challenging Chinese market hit demand last year.

In Europe, Porsche deliveries fell 13% to 66,340 cars excluding its home market of Germany, while German deliveries dropped 16%.

The company cut guidance several times last year as it warned of hits from U.S. import tariffs, investments in new combustion engines and hybrid models amid the slow uptake of EVs, and the competitive situation in China.

Porsche also last year announced plans to scale back its EV ambitions and instead expand its lineup with more gas-powered and plug-in hybrid models than it had originally planned.

However, in its statement Friday, the company said it increased its share of electrified-vehicle deliveries in the year. Around 34% of vehicles delivered worldwide were electrified, an increase of 7.4 percentage points on year, with about 22% all-electric vehicles and 12% plug-in hybrids.

That leaves its global share of fully-electric vehicles at the upper end of its target range of 20% to 22% for 2025.

In Europe, for the first time in 2025, more electrified vehicles than purely combustion engine vehicles were delivered.

The Macan topped the delivery charts in the year, while the 911 reached a record high with 51,583 deliveries worldwide, it said.

Porsche said it is investing in its three-pronged powertrain strategy and will continue to respond to increasing demand for personalization requests from customers.

“We have a clear focus for 2026,” Sales and Marketing Chief Matthias Becker said. “We want to manage supply and demand in accordance with our ‘value over volume’ strategy.

“At the same time, we are realistically planning our volume for 2026 following the end of production of the 718 and Macan with combustion engines.”

Monaco, Venezuela Placed on Global Money-Laundering Watch List

The Financial Action Task Force also removed Jamaica and Turkey from the grey list

The sports-car maker delivered 279,449 cars last year, down from 310,718 in 2024.