THE Philippine Embassy in Oslo, Norway is looking into an incident involving a Filipino national who was denied currency exchange at a forex stall in the city’s airport.
In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the Philippine Embassy in Oslo is coordinating with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway to seek an explanation regarding the incident involving the mother of television host Gretchen Ho, who was in the country for a tour.
In a social media post, Ho said a staff member of the currency exchange stall refused to exchange money “because of the corruption and money laundering in the Philippines.”
She said they were later allowed to exchange the money outside the airport.
“It was found out that the forex stall at Oslo airport is following an outdated list which still includes the Philippines in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list. The FATF grey list identifies countries that have deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regimes,” the DFA said.
“The Philippines was officially removed from the FATF grey list in February 2025, and the EU grey list in August 2025, following the introduction of rigorous reforms that fortified the integrity of the Philippines’ financial system and reaffirmed the country’s commitment to combating financial crimes,” it added.
The agency said the Norwegian Foreign Ministry committed to follow up with the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway to update and delist the Philippines on the forex companies’ list of countries with high risk for money laundering or terrorist financing.
Corruption issues in the country have unfolded following the order of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to investigate the anomalous flood control projects. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)
