Joint Summary of Training Outcomes

Some 40 representatives from 21 countries including 18 ESAAMLG jurisdictions convened in Cape Town, South Africa, where they attended a weeklong Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Standards Training Course on Anti-Money Laundering, Countering the Financing of Terrorism and Countering the Financing of Proliferation (AML/CFT/CFP).

2 February 2024, Cape Town, South Africa – The power of cooperation was at play this week, during an insightful training delivered by the FATF Training Institute with support from the EU Global Facility on AML/CFT.

Angola, Botswana, Eritrea, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe were represented in this course, as well as the ESAAMLG and GABAC Secretariats. Three participants from Finland, Germany and Jersey also participated in the joint event, where they shared good practices  from their jurisdictions.

Delivered by experienced trainers from the FATF Training Institute and the ESAAMLG Secretariat, the course centred around a number of topics related to the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing (ML/TF/PF), ranging from risk assessment, domestic coordination and information sharing, beneficial ownership, financial intelligence, asset recovery and prosecution, among many others.

“The FATF Standards Training Course covers all aspects of financial investigation and the criminal process”, explained Head of the FATF Training Institute, Joël Godard. “Through training programmes like these, the FATF is helping countries in the African region build their capacity to combat ML/TF/PF effectively, deprive criminals of their ill-gotten gains, and improve global asset recovery.”

It is the second time that the EU Global Facility, a project funded and managed by the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments, has collaborated with the FATF Training Institute, following a successful activity held for French-speaking countries in Vienna in July 2023.

“Providing support to these training is a testament to the European Union’s commitment to accompany African countries in their efforts to uphold their financial systems and be better equipped to combat financial crimes,” stated Team Leader of the EU Global Facility, David Hotte.

“The region faces unique challenges in tackling the plagues of money laundering and related crimes such as illegal logging, human trafficking and terrorism. Through regional platforms like this one, our partner countries can gain a better understanding of the practices they can implement and disseminate back home, in a way that is tailored to their jurisdiction and their needs,” he concluded.

Delivered to over 950 government officials from around the world, the updated FATF Standards Training Course has helped strengthen jurisdictions’ understanding of the requirements of the FATF Standards since 2021.

With these two successful training concluded, the two parties are now planning to replicate this collaboration in the near future, targeting countries from the Caribbean and Latin American region.