Financial Action Task Force - The African Mirror

Mar

2024

Kenya’s greylisting for weak action on money laundering and terrorism financing: what that means and what must happen next

KENYA and Namibia are the latest African countries to be placed on the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list over their weak measures against money laundering and terrorism financing. Being on the grey list is typically seen as an indictment of a country’s ability to identify and effectively redress financial crimes. It warns investors to be cautious in dealings with the country. Financial crimes researcher Louis de Koker, who has recently studied the economic consequences of greylisting, answers questions on the move. Why is Kenya on the grey list? In February 2024 Kenya was greylisted by the Financial Action Task…

Mar

2024

By CONSTANCE GIKONYO

Kenya has tightened its laws to stop money laundering: why banks are the focus

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

KENYA’S banking industry has in recent years been in the crosshairs of national, regional and international watchdogs, given the country’s role as a financial hub in eastern Africa. In 2023 Kenya enacted laws to curb money laundering and combat terrorism financing. While the laws have led to tougher sanctions on some banks, the risk of money laundering remains, and the country was recently greylisted by the Financial Action Task Force. A grey list contains countries that are actively working with the Financial Action Task Force to address loopholes in countering money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. Constance Gikonyo, a…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

South Africa has been grey-listed for not stopping money laundering and terrorism funding. What it means

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

THE Financial Action Task Force has placed South Africa on a list of countries under increased monitoring, commonly known as the grey list, after it failed to address all of the shortcomings on money laundering and the financing of terrorism that the task force identified in its 2019 evaluation of the country. The decision has serious implications for the country, more specifically its financial services sector as well as its ability to attract investment. The Conversation Africa’s political editor Thabo Leshilo talks to Philippe Burger, an economics professor and the dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at…

Feb

2023

By The African Mirror

Financial crime watchdog adds South Africa to ‘grey list’

BUSINESS

TASSILO HUMMEL, BHARGAV ACHARYA AND ALEXANDER WINNING INTERNATIONAL financial crime watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) added South Africa to its "grey list" of countries under special scrutiny to implement standards to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing. Being added to the list is a reputational setback for Africa's most advanced economy, which has been trying to address shortcomings identified by the FATF. The rand extended losses against the dollar after the watchdog's decision, to trade down about 1.3% on the day. Analysts say increased FATF monitoring could mean South African clients at international financial institutions will be subject…

Aug

2021

By The African Mirror

SPECIAL REPORT: How a G7 task force unwittingly helps govts target critics

NEWS

ANGUS BERWICK IN late 2020, when Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni faced a fresh challenge to his 35-year rule, a new tool helped to silence his critics: anti-money laundering legislation promoted by the G7. The Financial Action Task Force, established by the G7 group of advanced economies to protect the global financial system, had written to Uganda's government eight years earlier telling it to do more to combat money laundering and terrorism financing or risk being placed on a "grey list" of deficient countries, according to a top Ugandan official who described the private letter to Reuters. Such a move could…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Ghana off money laundering list

NEWS

GLOBAL money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog FATF said yesterday that Ghana was no longer under its increased monitoring process but said other nations were now on that list. "The FATF congratulated Ghana for the significant progress it has made," the Financial Action Task Force said in a statement, adding that Haiti, Malta, the Philippines and South Sudan were "new jurisdictions subject to increased monitoring".