Kenya Listed Among High-Risk Countries for Money-Laundering, Terrorism Financing

The European Commission has named Kenya among several countries now classified as high-risk for money laundering and terrorism financing. 

In a statement on Tuesday, June 10, the commission said the new development follows a newly published update to the EU’s list of strategic deficiencies in anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) frameworks.

The revised list includes ten new countries, namely Algeria, Angola, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Monaco, Namibia, Nepal, and Venezuela.  

According to the European Commission, the aforementioned countries are now subject to enhanced scrutiny by EU-based financial institutions.

"The European Commission has updated its list of high-risk jurisdictions presenting strategic deficiencies in their national anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes. EU entities covered by the AML framework are required to apply enhanced vigilance in transactions involving these countries. This is important to protect the EU financial system," part of the statement read. 

The statement adds, "The updated list takes into account the work of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and in particular its list of “Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring”. As a founding member of FATF, the Commission is closely involved in monitoring the progress of the listed jurisdictions, helping them to fully implement their respective action plans agreed with FAFT. Alignment with FATF is important for upholding the EU´s commitment to promoting and implementing global standards."

The European Commission advised EU-regulated entities are required to apply enhanced vigilance in financial dealings with countries on the high-risk list.

The recommended steps to be taken include enforcing stricter customer due diligence and reporting obligations.

On the other hand, eight countries, including Barbados, Gibraltar, Jamaica and Panama were removed from the high-risk list.

Others are the Philippines, Senegal, Uganda, and the United Arab Emirates.