Namibia on track to exit greylist

Namibia has met all requirements to exit the greylist, following the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary meeting held in Mexico from 9 to 13 February.

Namibia was greylisted by the FATF in February 2024 after the country was found to have 13 strategic deficiencies in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT) framework.

Financial Intelligence Centre director Bryan Eiseb says the FATF accepted that Namibia has remedied all deficiencies.

“The FATF accepted and made the initial determination that Namibia has substantially completed its action plan, which warrants an on-site assessment to verify the implementation of AML/CFT reforms,” Eiseb says.

Namibia was greylisted partly for its handling of beneficial ownership information for legal persons and arrangements, including remedial actions and sanctions for non-compliance.

Last year, the Business and Intellectual Property Authority announced the mass deregistration of about 137 000 businesses if they fail to comply with beneficial ownership requirements.

The mass deregistration will begin in August with an initial 1 000 businesses, followed by 1 000 monthly until all comply.

According to the outcomes noted at the meeting, Namibia implemented a series of reforms, including strengthening AML/CFT risk-based supervision.

“This was done by enhancing human and resource capacities, conducting offsite and onsite inspections informed by supervisory risk assessment tools, and applying effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions for breaches of AML/CFT obligations,” says Eiseb.

The next phase in Namibia’s greylist exit process will be an on-site assessment by reviewers from the Africa Joint Group, scheduled for April.

During the visit, reviewers will verify whether the reforms outlined in Namibia’s progress reports have been fully implemented.

“The next step to ensure that Namibia exits the greylist is the successful completion of the on-site assessment,” says Eiseb.

The Financial Intelligence Centre is currently coordinating with national stakeholders to prepare for the assessment.

The results of the review will be presented at the next FATF meeting scheduled for June.

If the site visit is successful, Namibia will follow South Africa, which was officially removed from the FATF greylist on 24 October 2025 after 32 months.

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