Reintroduce international banks in the oil and gas commodity trade to reduce illicit financial flows says OECD report
Reintroducing large commercial banks into the oil and gas commodity trade could be a way to reduce the volume of illicit financial flows (IFFs) out of resource-rich developing countries according to a new report published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The…
Mbeki continues campaign against trade-based financial crime, calls on ALSF to focus more on IFFs
“The African Legal Support Facility (ALSF) must assist African countries to negotiate fair and balanced contracts to eliminate opportunities for illicit receipt, use, or transfer of funds,” says former president of South Africa and current chair of the African Union’s High-level Panel on Illicit Financial…
New initiative aims to remove AML and KYC barriers to trade finance for African SMEs
A new initiative supported by the German government aims to reduce the compliance burden associated with stringent anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) regulations and enable small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially in Africa, to apply for trade finance. The collaborative initiative aims…
Anti-corruption group report critical of banks and their role in IFFs flowing from Nigeria to the UK and UAE
Nigerian NGO Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) has published a three part report on policies, laws and practices in the UK and the UAE as well as domestically in relation to the roles of financial and non-financial institutions in the facilitation of illicit financial…
Africa reports progress exchanging information on IFFs and achieving tax transparency
African countries showed significant progress in 2019 exchanging information on illicit fund flows (IFFs) and achieving tax transparency according to a report produced by the Global Forum for Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, the African Union and the African Tax Administration Forum in partnership with…
AfDB’s €1.2 million grant to help Africa’s revenue capture
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has allocated a €1.2 million (US$1.3 million) grant to provide training to help resource-rich countries improve their mining revenues. The support comes at a time when concerns are growing about revenue losses in resource-rich countries through trade-based money laundering (TBML)…
Africa a net creditor to the world due to IFFs
Global Financial Integrity (GFI) has published an analysis arguing that Africa is a net creditor to the rest of the world because it has not captured rightfully earned taxes and royalties from its exports. This contradicts traditional thinking that argues that the west pours money…
Workshop to raise IFF awareness amongst African parliamentarians and officials
The African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (Afrodad), which lobbies and advocates for debt cancellation and addresses other debt related issues in Africa, has held a workshop entitled ‘Raising the voice against Illicit Financial Flows, Corruption, Debt and Inequality in Africa: Tackling Existing…
Lack of political will and official cooperation hampering Liberia’s efforts to curb IFFs
The director general of Liberia’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Alex Cuffy, says the unit’s efforts to curb illicit financial flows (IFFs) are hampered by a lack of political will and unwillingness amongst other agencies to communicate and work with his unit. Cuffy has also said…
Due diligence repository for African entities
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has introduced a customer due diligence platform that will serve as a primary single source of data. Known as the MANSA Repository, the platform will collect data on African corporates, including small- and medium-sized enterprises and financial institutions. Reduced compliance…
