Search Results for: Algeria

Niger’s military government is insisting it has maintained higher education services despite international sanctions imposed on the west African country since the coup d’état of last July (2023). This has ruptured relations with western and some neighbouring countries, prompting concerns that Nigerien students might struggle to continue their studies abroad.…

The first FATF plenary under the presidency of Mexico’s Elisa de Anda Madrazo has launched the AML body’s fifth mutual evaluation round, while taking initial steps towards boosting inclusivity. For the first time, two external jurisdictions – Cayman Islands and Senegal – were invited to participate in the FATF plenary and working groups as guests, to “broaden the diversity of perspectives at the FATF,” said a post-meeting communiqué.…

Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, and the ensuing Israeli war on Gaza, the Palestinian banking sector has been caught in the crosshairs. Meanwhile, Hamas continues to get funding as the war enters its 10th month.

The Palestinian banking sector, overseen by the Palestinian Authority (PA), has been under heightened pressure from the Israeli government following the Hamas-led attacks.…

A Financial Action Task Force (FATF) paper has warned that governments are failing to increase AML/CFT controls on virtual assets and virtual asset service providers (VASPs), with only 25% of those surveyed fully or largely compliant with FATF guidance (1).

Of these 130 jurisdictions assessed under the latest mutual evaluation reports and follow up checks, the 75% proportion of those partially or not compliant with FATF recommendation 15 on VASPs and other new tech, “is identical to that of April 2023…and shows negligible improvement,” said FATF.…

USA FIU the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has released detailed guidance on how Iran funds Middle East allies labelled as terror groups by Washington, such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Yemen’s Houthis and militias in Iraq and Syria.

Stressing that the Iranian government funnels funding through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), FinCEN said revenues are generated by sales of commodities, especially oil, to countries eschewing western sanctions against Iran, such as China, which bought 1.3 million barrels a day during 2023.…

The only university of the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, or Western Sahara, continues to teach and graduate students, despite the military stalemate that has persisted before and since its founding in 2012, which has left Morocco controlling 80% of the territory.…

The scourge of the fentanyl trade and heightened international tensions caused by Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Hamas’ attack on Israel and the resulting Israeli invasion of Gaza have shifted the USA’s assessment of its ML, TF and PF risks.

These conclusions have been written into the latest US treasury ‘National Risk Assessments [NRA] on Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Proliferation Financing’, released on Wednesday (Feb 7).…

The food industry is one of the most important and fastest growing branches of the Polish economy. With 60% of its land arable, Poland is the sixth largest agri-producer in the European Union (EU), according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).…

The seizure of criminal proceeds has been a policy priority of the current Singaporean presidency of FATF (the Financial Action Task Force) (1). But while it and jurisdictions such as the European Union (EU) are developing reforms to boost asset recovery, more change is needed for this tactic to become a truly effective weapon against organised crime.…

European textile companies increasingly overburdened by regulation say each new piece of European Union (EU) regulation they face should be assessed on the grounds of how it helps industry succeed in an increasingly competitive market. They say more should be done to boost a sector that employs 1.3 million workers in 192,000 companies and provides more than EUR67 billion’s worth of exports to the 27-country bloc, according to the European Apparel and Textile Confederation (Euratex).…