Namibia has been commended by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for the strides it has made towards exiting the global financial watchdog’s grey list.
The FATF, which placed Namibia on the grey list in February 2024 due to shortcomings in its anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) measures, acknowledged the country’s progress at its plenary meeting in Strasbourg, France, this week.
Namibia was initially flagged for 13 strategic deficiencies.
According to the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), the country has fully addressed eight of these, with five remaining action items to be resolved before May 2026.
“The FATF has recognised our considerable efforts and the tangible results we have achieved in just over 13 months,” FIC director Bryan Eiseb said in a statement on Friday.
He said Namibia’s progress follows the submission of its second compulsory progress report to the FATF Africa Joint Group, which recommended the update for adoption at the plenary.
Namibia’s remaining areas for improvement include ensuring that sanctions for breaches of AML and CTF obligations are effective and dissuasive, improving cooperation between the FIC and law enforcement, increasing prosecutions of money laundering offences, enhancing resources for investigative agencies, and boosting capacity to identify and investigate terrorist financing.
“The government has pledged its absolute commitment to enhance the effectiveness of our AML, CTF and counter-proliferation financing regime in a sustainable manner,” Eiseb said.
Despite this progress, Namibia was added to the European Union’s (EU) list of high-risk jurisdictions on Tuesday.
The EU’s listing aligns with the FATF grey list but comes more than a year after Namibia’s initial grey listing.
Eiseb urged Namibian businesses and financial institutions to be mindful of the possible implications.
“The EU listing does not undo the exceptional progress Namibia is making. However, it does mean EU banks and financial institutions will apply increased vigilance when dealing with Namibian entities. This could result in higher compliance requirements and potentially increased transactional costs,” he said.
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