Oslo: The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced Thursday that officials from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry will coordinate with relevant authorities back in their country to review and remove the Philippines from its list of nations deemed high-risk for money laundering and terrorist financing. This development came after an incident involving Filipino journalist Gretchen Ho's mother, who was disallowed to exchange US dollars at a foreign exchange stall at Oslo's Gardermoen Airport.

According to Philippines News Agency, the DFA said it was found that the counter is following an 'outdated list' which still includes the Philippines in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) gray list. The list identifies countries that have deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regimes.

The Philippines was officially removed from the FATF gray list in February 2025 and the EU gray list in August 2025, following reforms that strengthened its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime.

In a social media post on Oct. 6, Ho shared that a family member-later found to be her mother-'got denied' at the airport's foreign exchange counter, with the personnel manning the stall saying they cannot exchange their dollars 'because of the corruption and money laundering in the Philippines.'

'This family member (along with a group of friends) told me they were asked to exchange their money elsewhere, but not at the airport. Family member was just trying to exchange 300 USD,' she wrote.

After receiving the report from Ho, the DFA said the Philippine Embassy in Oslo contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway for an explanation.