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Chuks Udo Okonta
To improve global trade in Africa and align with international regulatory and compliance standards, African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), in partnership with the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), is hosting a high-profile Compliance Forum in Dakar, Senegal, from 4 to 6 September 2024.
The Forum will focus on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) requirements for identifying Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs) and their far-reaching implications for trade facilitation. The FATF, an intergovernmental organisation, sets international standards to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, and other threats to the integrity of the global financial system. One of its critical mandates is to identify and verify UBOs to ensure transparency and accountability in financial transactions.
Additionally, the Forum will explore the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in compliance processes, address strategies for African countries to make the necessary reforms to be removed from the FATF’s grey list and showcase the latest compliance technologies.
The Forum will provide a platform for experts from the compliance and monitoring industry to discuss these requirements and their practical impact on trade facilitation in Africa. It will attract delegates from Africa, the UK, Europe, Russia, and the UAE.
Idrissa Diop, Compliance Director at Afreximbank, said: “The Afreximbank Compliance Forum has been designed to improve intra-African trade and bolster Africa’s global trade with the rest of the world by aligning with international compliance standards to build credibility and create safe global trade.
“We believe better compliance generates better trade for Africa. Trade compliance is a responsibility for all businesses and is especially important for those importing and exporting. It ensures goods move swiftly across borders. The weight of today’s regulatory pressures makes trade compliance controls especially important for mitigating risks.”
Shane Riedel, Founder and CEO of Elucidate, a Berlin-based financial crime risk quantification agency, said: “With the increasing digitalisation and the growing complexity of transactions, adherence to international and local regulations is more critical than ever to promote transparency, reduce corruption, and mitigate fraud. Accurate and timely data reporting enhances visibility and accountability in trade and payments operations.”
Commenting on the ACF, Gary Mthombeni from LexisNexis Risk Solutions, said: “We look forward to insightful discussions around improving compliance standards that will drive African businesses toward global success.”
The Forum is expected to attract diverse participants, including central bankers, commercial bankers, compliance officers, trade experts, financial institutions and technology providers from across Africa. By fostering a collaborative environment, the event aims to drive meaningful dialogue and develop actionable solutions to enhance compliance and trade facilitation in Africa.
Attendees can register for the Afreximbank Compliance Forum through this link.
About Afreximbank:
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance, facilitate, and promote intra and extra-African trade. For over 30 years, the Bank has been deploying innovative instruments to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa. A stalwart supporter of the AfCFTA, Afreximbank has in partnership with the African Union Commission and AFCFTA Secretariat launched a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement. The AFCFTA Secretariat and the Bank have created a USD 10 billion Adjustment Fund to support countries to effectively participate in the AfCFTA.
At the end of December 2023, Afreximbank’s total assets and guarantees stood at over US$37.3 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$6.1 billion. Afreximbank has investment grade ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A), Moody’s (Baa1), Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) (A-) and Fitch (BBB). Afreximbank has evolved into a group entity comprising the Bank, its impact fund subsidiary called the Fund for Export Development Africa (FEDA), and its insurance management subsidiary, AfrexInsure, (together, “the Group”). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.
