Title: FATF Evaluates Guinea-Bissau’s Progress against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Requirements
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international organization fighting money laundering and terrorist financing, has published its Mutual Evaluation Report for Guinea-Bissau. The report assesses the country’s level of implementation of the FATF Recommendations.
Guinea-Bissau’s Progress on Various Recommendations
The FATF evaluation covers several recommendations, and below is a summary of Guinea-Bissau’s progress:
Important: The following list uses partial compliance, largely compliant, non-compliant, and conditionally compliant to denote the country’s progress for each recommendation. For a complete understanding, please refer to the official FATF report.
- Assessing risk & applying risk-based approach (R.1): Partially Compliant
- National cooperation and coordination (R.2): Partially Compliant
- Money laundering offense (R.3): Partially Compliant
- Confiscation and provisional measures (R.4): Largely Compliant
- Terrorist financing offense (R.5): Partially Compliant
- Targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism & terrorist financing (R.6): Partially Compliant
- Targeted financial sanctions related to proliferation (R.7): Partially Compliant
- Non-profit organizations (R.8): Non-Compliant
- Financial institution secrecy laws (R.9): Conditional
- Customer due diligence (R.10): Partially Compliant
- Record keeping (R.11): Largely Compliant
- Politically exposed persons (R.12): Partially Compliant
- Correspondent banking (R.13): Largely Compliant
- Money or value transfer services (R.14): Partially Compliant
- New technologies (R.15): Not yet assessed
- Wire transfers (R.16): Partially Compliant
- Reliance on third parties (R.17): Largely Compliant
- Internal controls and foreign branches and subsidiaries (R.18): Largely Compliant
- Higher-risk countries (R.19): Partially Compliant
- Reporting of suspicious transactions (R.20): Partially Compliant
- Tipping-off and confidentiality (R.21): Compliant
- Designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs) Customer due diligence (R.22): Partially Compliant
- DNFBPs - Other measures (R.23): Partially Compliant
- Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons (R.24): Partially Compliant
- Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal arrangements (R.25): Partially Compliant
- Regulation and supervision of financial institutions (R.26): Partially Compliant
- Powers of supervisors (R.27): Compliant
- Regulation and supervision of DNFBPs (R.28): Not yet assessed
- Financial intelligence units (R.29): Largely Compliant
- Responsibilities of law enforcement and investigative authorities (R.30): Largely Compliant
- Powers of law enforcement and investigative authorities (R.31): Largely Compliant
- Cash couriers (R.32): Partially Compliant
- Statistics (R.33): Partially Compliant
- Guidance and feedback (R.34): Partially Compliant
- Sanctions (R.35): Largely Compliant
- International instruments (R.36): Partially Compliant
- Mutual legal assistance (R.37): Largely Compliant
- Mutual legal assistance: freezing and confiscation (R.38): Largely Compliant
- Extradition (R.39): Partially Compliant
- Other forms of international cooperation (R.40): Not yet assessed
Impact and Next Steps
The FATF evaluation’s results impact Guinea-Bissau’s international reputation and access to financial markets. To address shortcomings, the authorities are urged to cooperate closely with the FATF and stakeholders, taking immediate steps to effectively meet the recommendations.
The next on-site evaluation is set for 2026, and the country is advised to continue efforts to strengthen its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework in the interim.