Basel AML Index 2022 : Mauritius ranks 1st in Africa
According to the 11th Public Edition of the Basel AML Index published by the Basel Institute in October 2022, Mauritius ranks 1st in Africa meaning that it is the least vulnerable country on the continent in terms of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (ML/TF).
The Basel AML Index assesses 5 domains as listed below, based on data available from public sources such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Transparency International, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum:
- Quality of AML / CFT Framework
- Bribery and Corruption
- Financial Transparency and Standards
- Public Transparency and Accountability
- Legal and Political Risks
According to this year’s report, little improvement has been witnessed on the average global ML/TF risk.
The Basel AML Index 2022 also analyses data from FATF Follow-up Reports for the years 2017 to 2022, from which it observes a general improvement on the technical compliance with the relevant Recommendation; whereby countries are generally getting better at assessing their specific ML/TF risks and applying a risk-based approach to tackling them.
Furthermore, Mauritius was flagged as one of the countries to have made significant progress on its technical compliance, as a direct result of addressing the deficiencies identified by the FATF.
It will be recalled that Mauritius, which was placed on the FATF Grey List in February 2020, successfully addressed all the deficiencies ahead of the agreed timeline and that it was ultimately “white-listed” by the FATF in October 2021. It is now the only African country to be largely compliant or compliant with all the 40 FATF Recommendations.
To access the Basel AML Index 2022 report, please click Here