Monday, July 18, 2016

Gambia: GIABA to Assist Financial Institutions on ML/TF Risk Assessment


The anti-money laundering agency, GIABA, has said it is to assist financial institutions in The Gambia to effectively address existing challenges and new requirements emerging from the revised Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Standards and the new methodology.

This will include Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (ML/TF) risk assessment and application of risk-based approach to the anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) implementation.

GIABA announced on Friday that it will hold a 3-day national workshop on ML and TF risk assessment for financial institutions and Designated Non-Financial Institutions Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs) in Banjul from July 27-29, 2016.


“The national programme is targeted at high level officials responsible for AML and CFT compliance in financial institutions (FIs) and DNFBPs in The Gambia,” the agency said in a July 15 pre-event statement.

GIABA organized a similar workshop last year in Abuja, Nigeria. However, it said the feedback received from participants at that programme, and the outcome of subsequent follow-up reports of member States, show that reporting institutions still face many challenges in the implementation of AML/CFT measures in West Africa.

It said the Banjul event will focus on “Understanding the inherent ML/TF Risks in the Financial Sector; Organization and Information in ML/TF Risk Assessment; Stages of ML/TF Risk Assessment; Application of RBA in the Implementation of AML/CFT Measures; Managing ML/TF risk of e-payments and new technologies; De-Risking: Implications for AML/CFT Regime; and Building a Sound AML/CFT Risk Assessment Methodology.”

Participants are expected to have comprehensive understanding of how to undertake ML/TF risk assessment in line with the revised FATF standards and methodologies at the end of the workshop.

GIABA is a specialized institution of ECOWAS and a Financial Action Task Force–Styled Regional Body (FSRB) responsible for combating the scourge of money laundering and terrorist financing in the sub-regional economic bloc.

It was established by the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS in 2000 with the mandate to protect the national economies and the financial systems of member States from abuse and the laundering of the proceeds of crimes.


Written by Modou S. Joof


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