Experts urged to strengthen regional cooperation against financial crimes in West Africa
A Joint Experts’ Meeting (JEM) organised by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), has opened in Accra, with renewed calls for intensified efforts in combating illicit financial crimes globally.
Mr Edwin W. Harris Jr. the Director-General (DG) of GIABA, said the West African region presently stood at a critical crossroad as its economies became more interconnected and financial systems more sophisticated.
He said these came with associated risks which must be dealt with, saying criminal networks exploited regulatory irregularities, leveraged complex trade and corporate structures, and harnessed digital channels to move illicit value across borders.
These activities undermined domestic resource mobilisation, distort competitive markets, and erode public trust in institutions, he said.
Mr Harris urged all GIABA member States to intensify their efforts towards strengthening the effectiveness of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering Financing Terrorists (CFT) frameworks, saying “the journey towards sustained compliance is not linear; it requires vigilance, adaptability, and a shared resolve to uphold the integrity of our financial systems in the face of evolving threats.”
Mr Harris said the three-day meeting was timely and essential as it offered a pragmatic, partnership-driven forum to address the vulnerabilities, focusing on Trade-Based Financial Crime (TBFC) and Terrorism Financing (TF).
He said the work streams had been carefully designed to elicit practical insights, foster cross-border collaboration, and generate actionable outputs.
Mr Harris highlighted the proud progress made by GIABA and its partners, through which the region had successfully completed the second round of mutual evaluations, advanced typologies studies, and strengthened national coordination mechanisms.
“Yet we remain acutely aware of the complexities and adaptability of the threats before us. Our response must be equally agile, evidenced-based, and regionally coherent,” Mr Harris said.
He reminded participants that “the JEM is not an end in itself” but a catalyst, and the ideas generated at the meeting would inform GIABA’s ongoing regional project on trade-based financial crime, particularly in the development of risk indicators, cooperation frameworks, and typology case studies.
Similarly, the FATF’s ongoing work on TF would benefit from the operational experience of participants in digital financial ecosystems, social media misuse, and cross-border case coordination, he added.
“Our shared goal is to produce guidance and training that is practical and immediately usable by frontline practitioners,” the DG said.
The annual joint FAFT-GIABA meeting being supported by the Government of the Republic of Ghana, aims to enhance operational collaboration among member states and improve global coordination in the fight against Money Laundering (ML), TF, and Proliferation Financing (PF) worldwide.
It brought together about 250 delegates including experts from across the FATF Global Networks, various FATF-Styled Regional Bodies (FSRBs); (law enforcement agencies, customs officials and financial intelligence units), international organisations and selected private sector stakeholders.
The meeting provides a key global platform for participants to share practical insights, innovative strategies and leading practices in tackling the evolving threats of ML/TF/PF among other related financial crimes.
Mr Harris said the JEM also played a critical role in informing the FATF’s work by drawing on the frontline experiences of practitioners, while strengthening the effectiveness of the Global Network’s collective response to emerging typologies and risks, foster collaboration and consistency in the implementation of AML/CFT standards globally.
Ms Elisa de Anda Madrazo, the President of the FATF, in her keynote address, highlighted the importance of the JEM, citing its venue in Ghana as historic, because it was the first time it was being held in West Africa.
She acknowledged this as a testament to the growing commitment and leadership in the region to tackle all forms of financial crimes and strengthen collaboration in the fight against ML/TF/PF.
Ms Madrazo expressed her profound gratitude to the Government and people of Ghana for their hospitality and support in hosting the event.
She said fostering the cohesion of the Global Network through enhanced efforts for partnership remained a key priority as the FATF President and highlighted the great partnership with GIABA as vital to their shared mission.
The FATF President urged participants to take advantage of the meeting to freely share knowledge and challenges, exchange best practices, and build a stronger collective response towards combating illicit financial activities.
She also stressed the critical role of Financial Intelligence units, law enforcement agencies and customs authorities in tracing, investigating and recovering stollen assets, under the FATF’s new guidance on asset recovery.
“Your work is complex, cross-border and resource intensive, yet essential in safeguarding communities and financial systems, and ensuring that crime does not pay,” she stated.
Ms Madrazo pledged to deepen engagement with FSRBs to ensure that their voices and experiences were reflected in global policy standards.
She reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to supporting West Africa’s efforts towards strengthening AML/CFT frameworks.
Source: GNA