The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placed Nigeria and South Africa on its so-called “grey list” of countries requiring increased monitoring because of deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing.
The global money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog made the announcement in a press release Friday.
“When the FATF places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring, it means the country has committed to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring,” the organization said regarding countries it designates.
Nigeria was added to the list because it failed to address nine shortcomings in its anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism regime, while South Africa had eight such deficiencies. Both countries must improve their investigation and prosecution of “serious and complex money laundering,” as well as identifying, capturing, and seizing the proceeds generated by such crimes, the FATF said.
The organization also wants the countries to improve their collection and use of beneficial ownership information in investigations and demonstrate their agencies can effectively implement targeted financial sanctions. Nigeria must improve its investigation of terrorist financing risks at nongovernmental organizations within its borders.
The FATF also announced it removed Cambodia and Morocco from its grey list. Both countries were deemed to have addressed technical deficiencies to meet the commitments of their action plans on weaknesses the FATF identified in February 2019 and 2021, respectively.
Countries that remain on the FATF’s list along with Nigeria and South Africa include Albania, Barbados, Burkina Faso, the Cayman Islands, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gibraltar, Haiti, Jamaica, Jordan, Mali, Mozambique, Panama, the Philippines, Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
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