Financial Crime World

Mauritania’s Efforts to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Yield Mixed Results

Nouakchott, Mauritania - The Islamic Republic of Mauritania has made significant progress in its efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF), but still faces moderate deficiencies, according to a report by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Progress Made

Mauritania has implemented effective measures to prevent ML/TF, including:

  • Implementation of AML/CFT laws and instructions at the financial group level
  • Requirement for financial institutions to implement programs against ML/TF, covering all branches and majority-owned subsidiaries of the financial group

Areas for Improvement

However, Mauritania still needs to improve in several areas, including:

  • Determining the scope of sanctions that can be applied for non-compliance with AML/CFT requirements
  • Addressing deficiencies related to tipping off and the interaction of amended requirements concerning tipping off
  • Implementing all recommendations made in its previous Mutual Evaluation Report

Concerns

The report also highlights concerns about:

  • Lack of transparency and accountability in Mauritania’s financial sector
  • Failure to fully address all deficiencies identified in its previous Mutual Evaluation Report

Recommendations

To continue making progress, Mauritania should:

  • Determine the scope of sanctions that can be applied for non-compliance with AML/CFT requirements
  • Address the deficiencies related to tipping off and the interaction of amended requirements concerning tipping off
  • Implement all recommendations made in its previous Mutual Evaluation Report

Rating

The FATF has rated Mauritania as “Partially Compliant” in this report, based on its progress in implementing AML/CFT measures. However, the country still faces moderate deficiencies and is not yet fully compliant with all of the recommendations made by the FATF.

Note: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental organization that sets standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing.