Africa-Press – Angola. The mutual evaluation mission of the Angolan financial system, by the East and Southern Africa Money Laundering Prevention Group (ESAAMLG), is in the country, continuing the process started in mid-2022.
The mission that has been in the country’s capital, Luanda, since the 27th of January, will return on the 4th of February, at the Financial Information Unit (UIF).
This is the second visit of the evaluators to the Angolan mutual evaluation process.
The evaluators’ first visit took place from June 27 to July 1, 2022, with the team conducting interviews and alignment meetings with local financial and non-financial system entities, with emphasis on regulators and supervised bodies.
The mission of the ESAAMLG-branch of the International Financial Action Group (FATF) is composed of 12 experts, namely from the USA, Portugal, Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho, Namibia Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
In the first assessment, carried out in June and July 2022, the evaluators assessed the degree of technical and effective compliance with the 40 FATF recommendations in the Angolan financial system, for preventing and combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism and Financing of Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
At the time, in the context of technical and effective compliance, entities such as the National Bank of Angola (BNA), Capital Market Commission (CMC), Angolan Insurance Regulation and Supervision Agency (ARSEG) were consulted.
The General Tax Administration (AGT), Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) and the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) were also interviewed, as well as entities linked to commercial banks, insurance companies, real estate agencies, the latter being supervised.
The answers given, by Angola, will dictate whether or not the team of evaluators will return, for the possible realization of improvements, according to the general director of the Financial Information Unit (UIF), Gilberto Capeça, during the interview granted to journalists, on the 27th of June.
If so, the answers given dictated the return of the team.
If the schedule/agenda presented in the first assessment is met, in February 2023, a pre-plenary will be held by the FATF, which will allow for another assessment of the report on Angola’s financial system.
The same report will be sent again to Angola to be commented on and returned to FATF, so that in April it will be discussed in plenary, in Arusha, Tanzania.
The latest version of the document will be produced and made available to independent evaluators for validation.
Only after this step will the final report be published, which could happen in September 2023.
Officials linked to the Angolan financial system have already ruled out the return of the country’s name to the black and gray lists of FATF, justifying that the country has evolved a lot in matters related to preventing and combating money laundering and financing of terrorism, as well as the proliferation of weapons massive.
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