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The logo of the FATF is seen during a news conference in Paris, France.Photo: Reuters
The logo of the FATF is seen during a news conference in Paris, France.Photo: Reuters

Namibia reports progress on financial grey-listing

A long way to go, Eiseb says
Namibia will have to report to the Financial Action Task Force by-annually over a two-year period.
Ogone Tlhage
Namibia will over a two-year period demonstrate its intent to be removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list, despite progress that has already been noted.

Providing an update on efforts to remove the grey-listing, Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) director Bryan Eiseb said Namibia had made notable progress regarding efforts to strengthen its anti-money laundering regime, but added that there was still a long way ahead towards full compliance.

“The FATF noted that Namibia has made good initial progress with anti-money laundering risk-based supervision, increasing the filling of beneficial ownership information, and having initiated some tangible efforts to strengthen the existing capacity of law enforcement in investigating complex financial crimes,” he said.

The FATF, however, said Namibia was lacking with regards to its ability to prevent tourism-related and financially complex crimes, according to Eiseb.



Next 24 months pivotal

The FIC director said the FATF commended Namibia for its strong commitment and encouraged the country to continue with its ongoing efforts to remediate the strategic deficiencies in the anti-money laundering regime, as well as implement an action plan in line with established timelines.

The next 24 months would prove pivotal to Namibia being removed from the FATF’s grey list, resulting in by-yearly reporting.

“Namibia is now entering the period of compulsory reporting, which commences in November. The compulsory reporting ends in May 2026 and is divided into reporting cycles of six months, which will demonstrate that it has largely addressed the remaining 13 action items as set out in the timelines of the action plan,” Eiseb said.



Reputational damage

Namibia had been placed on the grey list because concerns had not been rectified to the satisfaction of FATF. A national focal committee has been put in place to oversee the execution of the plan to restore international confidence in the country, investment firm NinetyOne said in advisory to investors following the grey-listing.

“FATF reviews are broken down into compliance, with 40 recommendations, six of which are considered core and 11 immediate outcomes on the effectiveness of the control environment,” NinetyOne said at the time.

Following a review in 2021, Namibia had 72 recommended actions to implement; at the time of the plenary, the country still had 13 actions outstanding.

Touching on the effects of the grey-listing, NinetyOne said there was an obvious reputational risk Namibia would be exposed to as a consequence of the decision taken by the FAFT. “Clearly, grey-listing will be negative for Namibia in terms of reputational damage, and higher transactional, administrative and funding costs will result in a less efficient economy with more frictional costs,” it said.

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Allgemeine Zeitung 2025-02-06

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Katima Mulilo: 19° | 32° Rundu: 19° | 33° Eenhana: 20° | 33° Oshakati: 22° | 32° Ruacana: 20° | 27° Tsumeb: 19° | 32° Otjiwarongo: 17° | 29° Omaruru: 19° | 31° Windhoek: 19° | 29° Gobabis: 20° | 33° Henties Bay: 18° | 22° Wind speed: 22km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 03:05, High tide: 09:49, Low Tide: 16:30, High tide: 22:55 Swakopmund: 17° | 19° Wind speed: 26km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 03:03, High tide: 09:47, Low Tide: 16:28, High tide: 22:53 Walvis Bay: 18° | 23° Wind speed: 28km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 03:03, High tide: 09:46, Low Tide: 16:28, High tide: 22:52 Rehoboth: 19° | 31° Mariental: 22° | 35° Keetmanshoop: 21° | 32° Aranos: 22° | 35° Lüderitz: 17° | 28° Ariamsvlei: 23° | 34° Oranjemund: 15° | 26° Luanda: 25° | 28° Gaborone: 20° | 33° Lubumbashi: 17° | 22° Mbabane: 18° | 25° Maseru: 16° | 26° Antananarivo: 17° | 26° Lilongwe: 18° | 27° Maputo: 23° | 32° Windhoek: 19° | 29° Cape Town: 18° | 31° Durban: 22° | 24° Johannesburg: 16° | 26° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 31° Lusaka: 17° | 27° Harare: 17° | 29° Currency: GBP to NAD 22.93 | EUR to NAD 19.16 | CNY to NAD 2.54 | USD to NAD 18.49 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.29 | EGP to NAD 0.36 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.65 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.19 | RUB to NAD 0.19 | INR to NAD 0.21 | USD to DZD 135.2 | USD to AOA 912 | USD to BWP 13.88 | USD to EGP 50.25 | USD to KES 129.19 | USD to NGN 1496.41 | USD to ZAR 18.49 | USD to ZMW 28.05 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 87191.25 Up +0.67% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1795.22 Up +2.25% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 16217.65 Down -0.18% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 30011.84 Up +0.93% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 10075.28 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 850.16/OZ DOWN -0.0067 | Copper US$ 4.42/lb DOWN -0.0043 | Zinc US$ 2 835.30/T UP 1.26% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 74.97/BBP DOWN -0.0041 | Platinum US$ 1 010.96/OZ UP +0.28% Sport results: Weather: Katima Mulilo: 19° | 32° Rundu: 19° | 33° Eenhana: 20° | 33° Oshakati: 22° | 32° Ruacana: 20° | 27° Tsumeb: 19° | 32° Otjiwarongo: 17° | 29° Omaruru: 19° | 31° Windhoek: 19° | 29° Gobabis: 20° | 33° Henties Bay: 18° | 22° Wind speed: 22km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 03:05, High tide: 09:49, Low Tide: 16:30, High tide: 22:55 Swakopmund: 17° | 19° Wind speed: 26km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 03:03, High tide: 09:47, Low Tide: 16:28, High tide: 22:53 Walvis Bay: 18° | 23° Wind speed: 28km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 03:03, High tide: 09:46, Low Tide: 16:28, High tide: 22:52 Rehoboth: 19° | 31° Mariental: 22° | 35° Keetmanshoop: 21° | 32° Aranos: 22° | 35° Lüderitz: 17° | 28° Ariamsvlei: 23° | 34° Oranjemund: 15° | 26° Luanda: 25° | 28° Gaborone: 20° | 33° Lubumbashi: 17° | 22° Mbabane: 18° | 25° Maseru: 16° | 26° Antananarivo: 17° | 26° Lilongwe: 18° | 27° Maputo: 23° | 32° Windhoek: 19° | 29° Cape Town: 18° | 31° Durban: 22° | 24° Johannesburg: 16° | 26° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 31° Lusaka: 17° | 27° Harare: 17° | 29° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 22.93 | EUR to NAD 19.16 | CNY to NAD 2.54 | USD to NAD 18.49 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.29 | EGP to NAD 0.36 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.65 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.19 | RUB to NAD 0.19 | INR to NAD 0.21 | USD to DZD 135.2 | USD to AOA 912 | USD to BWP 13.88 | USD to EGP 50.25 | USD to KES 129.19 | USD to NGN 1496.41 | USD to ZAR 18.49 | USD to ZMW 28.05 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 87191.25 Up +0.67% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1795.22 Up +2.25% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 16217.65 Down -0.18% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 30011.84 Up +0.93% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 10075.28 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 850.16/OZ DOWN -0.0067 | Copper US$ 4.42/lb DOWN -0.0043 | Zinc US$ 2 835.30/T UP 1.26% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 74.97/BBP DOWN -0.0041 | Platinum US$ 1 010.96/OZ UP +0.28%