Egypt bans dealings with countries with poor anti-money laundering laws

(KHARTOUM) – Egyptian banks are refusing to receive wire transfers from Sudanese and Libyan companies in line with instructions issued by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBoE).

The headquarters of the Central Bank of Egypt in the capital, Cairo (Photo: Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)

The CBoE decided to ban banking transactions with several Arab and African countries, including Qatar, Libya, Syria and Sudan, saying those countries are not committed to implementing anti-money laundering laws.

It also said there are suspicions that there are money transfers from those countries to civil and rights organisations inside Egypt and are being misused.

According to Egypt’s Al Youm Al Sabi’ daily newspaper, the Egyptian Chemical and Fertiliser Exports Council (CFEC) ,which is headed by Waleed Hilal, received complaints from several companies in the sector, saying they were negatively affected by the decision to ban banking transactions with those countries.

In a press statement on Wednesday, Hilal said that the companies are facing problems in receiving their dues from clients in some Arab countries due to CBoE instructions.

Press Release: GIABA trains West African accountants on AML/CFT requirements in Banjul

The Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) will organize a regional training on anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements for accountants from the five English-speaking countries in West Africa. The workshop will hold from 11 to 12 September, 2013 in Banjul, The Gambia.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) revised standards place obligations on accounting professionals to adopt and implement anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures, including  risk assessment and application of the Risk-Based Approach to AML/CFT implementation, Customer identification/Customer Due Diligence, record keeping  and  reporting of suspicious transactions.
The main objective of the programme is to enhance the capacity of accountants on the revised FATF Recommendations to enable them fulfill their obligations.

In 2012, the GIABA Secretariat held a sensitization programme in Dakar, Senegal, for Accountants from Francophone member States. The initiative was a first step in sensitizing Accountants and Auditors on their roles in strengthening their countries’ AML/CFT regimes. A major resolution at that programme was that GIABA should sustain efforts to create awareness among the Association of Accountants and urge member States to direct professional bodies to create self-regulatory bodies within relevant sectors to further drive AML/CFT compliance. The current programme is therefore, designed for Accountants from the Anglophone member States and is part of GIABA’s commitment to sensitize and support accountants from benefiting member States to effectively implement robust AML/CFT measures.