Marruecos avanza en su lucha contra el blanqueo de capitales y mejora 13 puestos en el ranking
In its struggle to improve the system against money laundering and terrorist financing, the State of Morocco has managed to climb up the list from 51st to 64th place with a score of 5.16 out of 10. The rate varies from 0 to 10; the zero point is attributed to the most transparent countries and which have a fairly "vigorous" law that allows them to fight money laundering and terrorist financing, while 10 is set to countries with greater insecurity in this area.
The Kingdom is, in fact, one of the most improved countries and the risks related to ML/TF threats have decreased, according to the Basel AML Index 2022 (11th edition). It should be noted that the ranking in 2021 assessed 110 countries while this year it has assessed 128 countries so the improvement in the Kingdom's ranking is greater than the numbers indicate. Compared to other nations in the MENA region, Morocco is ranked higher than the United Arab Emirates (44) and Saudi Arabia (56), but is outperformed by Jordan (67), Tunisia (77), Egypt (80), Bahrain (81) and Israel (116). At the regional level, Morocco ranks 3rd in the list of Arab countries most exposed to money laundering and terrorist financing risks.
These figures, compared to last year, confirm that the measures taken by the Kingdom are proving effective. The reduction in these rates is thanks to the assignment of powers to the National Financial Intelligence Authority (ANRF), including the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. In addition, the Court of First Instance of Marrakech, Casablanca and Fairies are also competent to hear cases of possible money laundering offences.
According to a circular issued by the Moroccan Customs Administration, which is in charge of supervising this activity, traders are obliged to report suspects verbally or in writing to the National Financial Intelligence Authority (UTRF). The document stipulates that when the value of the sale or purchase exceeds 150,000 dirhams (around 14,000 euros), traders must take all measures to determine the true beneficiary of each commercial transaction and analyse the level of suspicion. Traders are also required to automatically identify their customers when the value of the business exceeds this figure and record their personal information, such as full name, ID number, profession, address and telephone number.
Among the most improved factors in the Kingdom, according to this index, is the transparency of financial secrecy data, a criterion that has lowered Morocco's risk score and increased for several countries in the region. The report notes that the overall average score for the MENA region increased from 5.08 to 4.93 this year. In addition, progress has been made mainly in the areas of quality of the AML/CFT framework and transparency of financial standards. At the same time, risk scores increased for corruption and bribery, public transparency and accountability, and political and legal risk.
Indeterminately, the report's authors note that progress in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing remains stagnant, year on year.
The Basel AML Index is a project of the International Centre for Asset Recovery at the Basel Institute of Governance in Basel, Switzerland. It has been published annually since 2012. According to this report, the five countries least exposed to money laundering in the world are Finland, Andorra, Sweden, Iceland and New Zealand. The countries most at risk are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Burma, Mozambique and Madagascar.
