The rise in technology platforms and currencies such as crypto has made the West African sub-region a safe haven for illicit movement of persons and laundering of funds, the Deputy Minister of Finance, Thomas Nyarko Ampem, has said.
He observed that deaths from terrorism in the sub-region were currently higher than in any other region of the world.
Mr Ampem disclosed this at the opening of the annual Financial Action Task Force (FATF) / Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) Joint Experts meeting in Accra.
Quoting from the Global Terrorism Index 2024 report, he said terrorism, money laundering, and illicit financial flows remained a significant and rising challenge with criminal networks, now transnational, increasingly operating without regard to jurisdiction.
“Our region’s informal sector and cash-based economy exacerbate money laundering.
Sadly, these are not just economic crimes.
They are moral injustices that rob our continent and our world of dignity and hope.
Ultimately, weak border security, limited law enforcement capacity, and limited international cooperation tend to hinder efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism,” he added.
GIABA is a specialised institution of ECOWAS charged with checking the illicit flow of money in the sub-region.
The annual Joint Experts meeting is, therefore, a key global platform for operational engagement. It brought together experts from across the FATF Global Network to share practical insights, innovative strategies and leading practices in tackling the evolving threats of money laundering, terrorist financing and related financial crimes.
Challenge
For Africa, Mr Ampem said, the spike in insecurity and in money laundering had coincided with the recovery of the economies from recent global economic shocks and their increasing youthful population.
That, he said, had resulted in a doom loop, where economic growth was undermined due to disruptions to economic activities, loss of significant national revenue due to illicit flows, smuggling, poor delivery of critical public services, and increasing youth discontent, which, he said, fuelled illegal migration, as well as the creation of a new generation of extremist recruits.
To address the problem, the deputy finance minister called on countries in the region to introduce reforms that were country-led but regionally and globally harmonised, just as Ghana had done.
He said they must also embrace technology as both a driver and defender of trust, adding that the countries should build a new act of digital integrity that empowers regulators and restores public trust in financial systems.
He also asked that the countries empower young people as coders, innovators and analysts whose creativity would define the next era of financial transparency.
Financial crimes
The Director-General of GIABA, Edwin W. Harris Jr, said the meeting would deliberate on trade-based financial crime and terrorist financing.
He explained that the topics had been carefully designed to elicit practical insights, foster cross-border collaboration and generate actionable outputs.
On the progress made, he said, the sub-region had successfully completed the second round of mutual evaluations, advanced typologies studies and also strengthened national coordination mechanisms.
Mr Harris Jr said as GIABA commenced its third round of mutual evaluation, Ghana would be the first member-state to undergo the process, with its mutual evaluation report expected to be adopted in November 2026.
He, therefore, urged all GIABA member-states to intensify efforts to strengthen the effectiveness of their Anti Money Laundering/ Countering Terrorist Financing (AML/CFT) frameworks.
Undermine
Speaking via video, FATF President, Elisa de Anda Madrazo, for her part, said terrorist financing continued to destabilise communities and undermine peace and security.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), Albert Kojo Twum Boafo, said the perimeter of money laundering and terrorist financing necessitated strong regional and international cooperation.