Gambia Strengthens Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism Regulations

The Governor of The Gambia’s Central Bank, Mr Saidy, has emphasized the need for continuous enhancement of knowledge and skills to effectively combat all forms of financial crimes. He highlighted the alarming growth of organized crime and its negative impact on financial systems.

The Consequences of Money Laundering

Money laundering has far-reaching adverse consequences on the integrity and soundness of financial systems as well as the broader economy, including:

• Distorting economic stability
• Creating unfair competition
• Undermining investor confidence
• Having adverse macroeconomic consequences

Second Round Mutual Evaluation Report

The Governor noted that The Gambia published its Second Round Mutual Evaluation Report in June 2022, which identified a number of priority and recommended actions for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) implementation by stakeholders. In response, the country has commenced work on those priority areas, including:

• Amendment of the current AML/CFT Act 2012
• Initiation of a new AML/CFT legislation

New Bill to Repeal Current Act

The Governor stated that The Gambia is working towards initiating a new AML/CFT legislation and validated a new Bill in 2024 that intends to repeal the current Act. With the enactment of this new bill, most of the deficiencies highlighted in the second round mutual evaluation will be addressed.

AML/CFT Unit Established

The Central Bank of Gambia has established an AML/CFT unit under the Banking Services Department and is working closely with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in conducting on-site examinations on financial institutions to ensure that the FIU eventually relinquishes the AML/CFT supervision of financial institutions to the unit.