CBN working to remove Nigeria from anti-money laundering watchlist – Cardoso 

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Yemi Cardoso, has announced that the apex bank is engaging at the highest level to facilitate Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “grey list,” an anti-money laundering watchlist.

Cardoso disclosed this during a briefing with journalists and stakeholders in Washington, USA, following meetings with officials of the World Bank.

The FATF added Nigeria to its grey list on February 24, 2024. 

Cardoso emphasized that Nigeria’s removal from the list was a key agenda during the bank’s recent engagements.

“The team is focused on driving progress by identifying and resolving any bottleneck that hinders remittance flow through the formal channels into Nigeria. I’ll like to emphasize that we’re consulting at the highest level to remove Nigeria from the FATF grey list, a key topic in our recent engagement” Cardoso said.  

Commitment to growing remittances 

Speaking further, The CBN Governor reiterated the bank’s commitment to increasing remittances to $1 billion within the shortest possible time.

He explained that his team engaged with leading International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) to boost inflows through formal channels.

Cardoso added that they also met with Nigeria’s diaspora communities to launch an account program and establish partnerships with Nigerian banks.

“In addition to our meetings with senior members of multilateral financial institutions, we had the opportunity to launch the non-resident account programme and engaged the diaspora communities in partnership with Nigerian banks.  

“Our team held productive discussions with leading IMTO when they collectively committed to growing remittance flow to $ 1 billion through formal channels into Nigeria.  

“This target is both ambitious and achievable and we are fully committed to mobilizing resources to reinforce the collaborative task force which I’m leading at the bank,” he said.  

What you should know  

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) added Nigeria and South Africa to its grey list on February 24, 2024.

• Countries on the grey list face increased monitoring and are required to strengthen efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, according to the task force.
• The FATF explained that being placed on the grey list indicates a commitment by the jurisdiction to address identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes.
• As an intergovernmental policy-making body, the FATF focuses on combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
• Recently, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) announced that the FATF had approved Nigeria’s fourth progress report since it was placed under monitoring.