Six African Countries have Weak Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Regimes - European Commission

The European Commission has adopted its new list of six African countries with strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing frameworks.

The Commission made the list to identify countries with risks to European Union’s financial system and find better ways to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing risks.

The countries – Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Libya, Nigeria, and Tunisia – are part of 132 jurisdictions Europe Commission seeks to further analyse and identify whether they present strategic deficiencies

The African countries were identified as falling within the scope of the EU assessment “high priority” alongside 47 other global jurisdictions.

The countries assessed meet at least one of the following criteria:

• they have systemic impact on the integrity of the EU financial system,
• they are reviewed by the International Monetary Fund as international offshore financial centres;
• they have economic relevance and strong economic ties with the EU.

For each country, the Commission assessed the level of existing threat, the legal framework and controls put in place to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing risks and their effective implementation. The Commission also took into account the work of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the international standard-setter in this field.

Věra Jourová, the Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality said: “We have established the strongest anti-money laundering standards in the world, but we have to make sure that dirty money from other countries does not find its way to our financial system. Dirty money is the lifeblood of organised crime and terrorism. I invite the countries listed to remedy their deficiencies swiftly. The Commission stands ready to work closely with them to address these issues in our mutual interest.”

As a result of the listing, banks and other entities covered by EU anti-money laundering rules will be required to apply increased checks (due diligence) on financial operations involving customers and financial institutions from these high-risk countries to better identify any suspicious money flows.

The identification was arrived on the basis of a new methodology, which reflects the stricter criteria of the 5th anti-money laundering directive in force since July 2018.

The Commission is mandated to carry out an autonomous assessment and identify the high-risk countries.