Given 72 Hours Ultimatum To Submit Requested Information.
Monrovia, Liberia – Ecobank Liberia Limited has been given 72 hours by the Financial Intelligent Agency to submit the information that the agency has requested. After many emails asking for the documents, the bank allegedly refused to provide them, prompting the FIA to take action. The ultimatum started on January 27, 2025.
In order to make sure that Ecobank Liberia Limited adequately remedies any possible weaknesses in its AML/CFT management system, the FIA emphasized that it will carry out more supervisory reactions in the future. Where necessary, these actions may involve criminal penalties.
The Bank’s alleged persistent refusal to provide requested information, however, has been characterized by the Financial Intelligence Agency of Liberia (FIA) as an intentional move to obstruct and hinder crucial investigations of organized crime and to compromise the Agency’s statutory mandate to conduct preliminary investigations promptly and without interference.
The FIA added that Ecobank Liberia Limited’s non-compliant stance seriously jeopardizes the findings of multiple ongoing investigations. The Agency has recalled many messages requiring Ecobank to deliver essential information last year, which the bank neglected to send.
These include communications dated January 5, 2024, April 25, 2024, April 30, 2024, November 15, 2024; and December 5, 2024.
The FIA stated that the warning to Ecobank Liberia Limited is in accordance with Section 15.3.29 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act of 2021, which gives the FIA the authority to impose administrative sanctions on organizations that violate Liberia’s AML/CFT regulations.
Section 67.3.3 of the FIA Act of 2021 also gives the Agency the power to request, require, and receive any information from reporting organizations, law enforcement and investigative organizations, tax authorities, organizations in charge of regulating and/or supervising entities or individuals covered by this Act, government ministries, agencies, commissions, etc., as the FIA may think necessary to fulfill its duties and powers.
One of the key components of the FIA’s AML/CFT Preventive Measures is the efficient and sufficient submission of required information.
Ecobank’s disregard for these rules raises serious concerns, undercuts Liberia’s efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist funding, and represents a major potential vulnerability and holes in the Bank’s risk management system according to FIA.
