Morocco receives FAFT experts as Kingdom attempts exit from money laundering 'grey list'

Experts from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) are expected to visit Morocco from Monday 16 January as part of a four-day working visit.

As agreed at the October 2022 plenary, FATF welcomed Morocco’s efforts in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

Tangible efforts that the Kingdom has undertaken to get out of the FATF gray list, where 23 other countries are listed for their counter-laundering infrastructure and mechanisms.

Expected for months, the visit should last until January 18, to “learn about the most important achievements of the Kingdom in terms of implementation of the axes of the action plan agreed with the group on the ground, and this with a view to leaving as soon as possible the process of enhanced monitoring,” said the President of the National Authority for Financial Intelligence (ANRF), Jawhar Nfissi.

Received Friday in Rabat by the Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch, the President of the ANRF presented him with the annual report of the Authority for the year 2021, on the progression of the fight against money laundering.

The report reviews the main achievements relating to the upgrading of the national system of combating money laundering and terrorist financing, its harmonization with international standards and best practices as well as the accelerating pace of coordination at the national level between law enforcement authorities and the supervisory and monitoring authorities and the private sector.

The report submitted to the Head of the Executive underlines the increasing evolution of the activity indicators of the FSNA during 2021, whether in terms of submitted suspicious transaction reports, transmissions to the competent judicial authorities or information requests made at the national and international levels.

This field visit is expected to provide an update on the implementation of the commitments Morocco and FATF agreed on back in February 2021.

These include legislative and regulatory actions, as well as awareness and monitoring, adopted by the various national institutions concerned.

In October 2021, the ANRF had specified in a statement “that following the efforts made by various national authorities, institutions and persons subject to the FATF during the past period, and for the success of this visit, the national authorities and institutions will continue to mobilize and engage, with full commitment and responsibility, in this national effort to ensure that the Kingdom of Morocco comes out of the list of enhanced monitoring.

Morocco, which is subject to enhanced scrutiny, has made considerable efforts in recent years to graduate from this money laundering and terrorist financing list.

However, the Kingdom, like other countries, is actively working with the FATF to address strategic gaps in its anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing and anti-proliferation financing regime.

When the FATF places a jurisdiction on enhanced scrutiny, it means that the country has committed to promptly address the identified strategic gaps within an agreed timeframe, and is subject to enhanced scrutiny.