The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday (25 June) removed Ghana from the list of countries with high levels of deficiencies in Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Terrorist Financing (CTF) regimes.
“The FATF welcomes Ghana’s significant progress in improving its AML/CFT regime. Ghana has strengthened the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime and addressed related technical deficiencies to meet the commitments in its action plan regarding the strategic deficiencies that the FATF identified in October 2018.
“Ghana is therefore no longer subject to the FATF’s increased monitoring process. Ghana will continue to work with GIABA to improve further its AML/CFT regime,” a statement issued by the FATF said.
The decision to take Ghana off the list was arrived after a meeting between President Akufo Addo and the President of the European Council, His Excellency Charles Michel, as well as at the European Commission during his two days visit to Brussels, Belgium, from the 19th to 20th May 2021.
Background:
The EU Commission announced on 7 May, 2020 that Ghana is among 12 countries which now pose “significant threats” to the EU’s financial system, due to deficiencies in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing strategy.
They include Botswana, Ghana, Mauritius and Zimbabwe.
Others are Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Cambodia, Mongolia and Myanmar.
They were all been subjected to financial transaction scrutiny.
A report by the Commission said the findings were part of a comprehensive approach to further strengthen the EU’s fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
Other countries that were listed include Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Cambodia, Mongolia and Myanmar.
The listed countries were identified after a systematic assessment of their integrity of the EU financial system by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In order for them to be delisted, the affected countries were to show a strong commitment to addressing the menace.
Ghana was added to a list of 23 countries in February 2019 for the same reason.
At the time, the Finance Ministry described as regrettable the decision of the European Commission to add Ghana to its lists of countries defaulting in the anti-money laundering and the financing of terrorism framework.
It said Ghana’s commitment to enforcing the anti-money laundering and the countering of the financing terrorism framework has been acknowledged by the global standard regulatory body, the Financial Action Task Force [FATF].
