Financial Crime World

Financial Institution Security Measures in Guinea: A New Era of Repression and Regulation

Introduction

Guinea has taken a significant step forward in its fight against money laundering and terrorist financing with the adoption of Law 2021/04/AN on August 17, 2021. This law replaces and strengthens the 2007 legislation, introducing a more repressive system and a broader regulatory framework.

The New Law: A Wider Scope of Repression

  • The intentional element and factual knowledge required to establish proof of money laundering offenses can now be inferred from the factual circumstances.
  • National courts play a central role in the system, recognizing their jurisdiction as soon as the offense takes place in Guinea, regardless of the nationality and residence of the alleged perpetrator.

Entities Covered by the Law

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  • Financial institutions
  • Virtual asset service providers
  • Trust and company service providers
  • Real estate companies
  • Business introducers
  • Individuals designated by the National Coordinating Committee for the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing

Key Features of the New Law

Control Authorities

  • The National Financial Information Processing Unit (CENTIF)
  • The National Coordination Committee against money laundering and terrorist financing
  • The Central Bank of Guinea
  • These bodies have been assigned broad powers to fulfill their missions, including:
    • Access to premises
    • Verification operations
    • Document communication
    • Imposition of financial disciplinary sanctions

Financial Institutions’ Responsibilities

  • Adopt measures to identify and assess the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing
  • Establish internal risk control and mitigation procedures
  • Implement vigilance measures when:
    • Establishing business relationships
    • Carrying out occasional operations above a certain threshold
    • In situations where transactions appear to be related

Suspicious Transaction Reports

  • The suspicious transaction report remains, now extended to terrorist financing offenses
  • Financial institutions must declare any suspected transactions to CENTIF, regardless of the amount

International Cooperation

  • New forms of exchange and sharing of information between supervisory authorities
  • This cooperation includes:
    • Transfer of proceedings
    • Requests for investigative and search measures
    • Requests for appearance of witnesses

Conclusion

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The adoption of this law demonstrates Guinea’s commitment to aligning its legislation with international standards on preventing the use of the financial system for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes. The Guinean authorities must now put this reform into practice and mobilize human and financial resources to enable effective application of the system.