Consultations ongoing to remove Nigeria from money laundering watchlist – Cardoso

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Saturday, said consultations and discussions have been going on since February 2023 to remove Nigeria from the gray list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the CBN, disclosed this at a joint press conference with the Minister of Finance after the 2024 annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington D.C., the United States.

FATF is the global body established in 1995 to lead global action to combat money laundering, terrorism, and proliferation financing.The organisation had greylisted the country due to a rise in capital inflows and deficiencies in combating money laundering, terrorism, and arms financing.

“I would like to emphasise that we are consulting at the highest levels to remove Nigeria from FAFT grey lists, a key topic in our recent engagement,” he said.

He further said diaspora remittances stood at $250 million in April 2024 and have increased to $600 million as of September 2024.

Cardoso said the bank has committed that by the end of this year, it will unveil a new product that will allow the non-resident diasporans to register their Bank Verification Number (BVNs) more seamlessly.

He also expressed optimism that with the ongoing engagement with the diaspora, in addition to various products that the banking industry is offering, the CBN will be able to ramp up $1 billion monthly in remittance inflows.

“Through engagement with the diaspora, we believe we’ll be able to move accordingly, and again, rising from that engagement, we put our target on increasing the inflows, the remittance inflows, to $1 billion and I’m confident that we will get there monthly,” he said.

According to Cardoso, “The CBN recapitalisation policy has prompted deposit money banks to strengthen their financial positions, a process expected to result in a more robust and resilient banking sector by March 2026. The exercise is expected to support the realisation of the $1 trillion economy by 2030. In closing, allow me to reaffirm our commitment to addressing the challenges ahead, recognising that much remains to be done to fully achieve our goals.”