speech of mr harvesh seegolam, governor, bank of mauritius at the workshop on countering terrorist financing risks in the non - profit organisation sector thursday 25 november 2021 le meridien hotel mauritius madame zitha, co - chair of fatf ’ s africa middle east joint group mr hotte, team leader of eu aml / cft global facility dr beekarry, director general of independent commission against corruption and co - chair of the aml / cft core group mr yerukunondu, first deputy governor of the bank of mauritius and chairperson of financial services commission mr purmessur, permanent secretary at the ministry of financial services and good governance experts joining us from the eu aml / cft global facility heads of competent authorities members of the press ladies and gentlemen a very good morning to all of you. i am particularly pleased to address you this morning at this workshop, which is part of a series of workshops facilitated by the eu aml / cft global facility since last week. this initiative reaffirms the ongoing commitment of mauritius in its sustained fight against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation. the theme of the workshop - “ countering terrorist financing risks in the non - profit organisation sector ’ ’ is indeed a topical one which remains high on the agenda of fatf. it is a subject matter which all countries are currently very closely working on as the npo sector remains very prominent globally. similarly, in mauritius, in line with our action plan which was spelt out by the fatf in february last year, we have been working on all identified deficiencies, including those under immediate outcome 10, that concerns the npo sector. through the high - level political commitment and enhanced collaboration between all competent authorities, we have been able to successfully demonstrate to the fatf joint group, the icrg and the plenary that we have largely addressed all action items well ahead of our specified timeline. this journey has however required a lot of efforts across various levels. it has entailed, amongst others, the development of appropriate national aml / cft strategy encompassing amongst others, an overhaul of the aml / cft legal and regulatory frameworks, implementing comprehensive risk - based supervision frameworks, enhancing regional and international cooperation, consolidating capacity building, training and outreach programs. in this process, the core group, which has now been entrenched in the legal framework, was set up under the chairmanship of the financial secretary

fatf list heralds a new era where new challenges await us, such as ensuring sustainability of progress achieved and continuously adapting ourselves. building resilience in aml / cft matters should be at the forefront of the agenda of all competent authorities. over the past two decades, the fatf has been driving regulatory change to improve safeguards against money laundering, terrorist financing, and the financing of weapons of mass destruction. these standards are constantly being revamped to address new and emerging risks. through the mechanisms which we have set up, we will continue to undertake the necessary reforms on an ongoing basis. we will continue to work closely with our key partners, including the essamlg and international counterparts in this process to ensure compliance and effectiveness ; thus, maintaining the sustainability of reforms over both the medium and long term. ladies and gentlemen, turning to the topic of today, npos are uniquely positioned to harbour vulnerabilities that make criminal exploitation more likely, particularly for terrorism financing. cross - border terrorist financing risks, the abuse of cash and remittance systems are areas of concern for the npo sector. this is where at the level of the bank of mauritius, we are sparing no efforts in our actions to ensuring that banks and financial institutions work very closely with us to identify, mitigate and address any such risks. it becomes even more important given the risks that it may cause to financial stability as well in the country. to this end, the directorate of aml / cft at the bank of mauritius is being constantly equipped with the necessary know - how and expertise. this is to ensure that regulated entities take appropriate actions to mitigate their aml / cft risks effectively and comply with aml / cft obligations. in the area of technical compliance, mauritius was rated as non - compliant for recommendation 8, i. e non - profit organizations in the mutual evaluation report of 2018. today, we have moved to a largely compliant rating after taking various initiatives such as the introduction of amendments to strengthen laws applicable to npos, monitoring of the npo sector and the conduct of a npo risk assessment, in line with the requirements of the fatf. we recall that the risk assessment was carried out with technical support from the eu - funded global aml / cft facility consultants, our partner on our aml / cft journey. the results of the risk assessment show that the overall inherent risk of terrorist financing abuse of npos in mauritius is low - medium