The Financial Intelligence Unit of Liberia (FIU) Director-General Mr. Edwin W. Harris has named non-rotational compliance officers, institutional and individual capacity building of banking and non-banking institution compliance officers as a tool to promote compliance independence.
The non-rotational status Mr. Harris indicated will collectively combat money laundering and terrorist financing across Liberia.
Speaking with the media after the launch of the Compliance Officers Forum of Liberia (COF-Liberia) at a local hotel in Monrovia on July 13, 2022, FIU Chief Executive said compliance officers remain the first line fighters against money laundering and terrorist financing and as such their non-rotational will promote compliance independence which will enable FIU to make Liberia save and free place of money laundering.
“We believe that the independence of compliance officers remains a major bedrock to our collective fight against money laundering and as such compliance officers should not be rotational but should be given the independent space”, he pointed out, adding that FIU will be mentioning this call in their upcoming circular.
Harris continued, ‘’ We also want to note, the temptation with compliance officer with management sometimes is difficult and against this backdrop, the Financial Intelligence Act will soon be passed into law maybe in the coming days because the Senate has completed the concurrence with the conference committee and it will be forwarded to the President for his signatory.”
The FIU Director General stressed that regulation coming out as the result of the passing of the Act into law will make compliance officers work independently and non-rotational. According to him, the FIU will issue a mandate early next week to mandate all banking and non-banking institutions that compliance officer positions are non-rotational to make them independent.
The new Act according to him, will make compliance officers be removed or fired like any other person base on the culpable cause because making them non-independent will make management interfere with their work. This he said the FIU wants to prevent because the officers are people with integrity and it will help his institution to get the best out of them.
Compliance Officers Forum of Liberia (COF-Liberia), in collaboration with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) on Thursday, July 14, 2022, officially launched and inducted interim leadership of COF-Liberia.
The grand ceremony held at the Royal Grand Hotel in Monrovia brought together several compliance officers and Financial Integrity and Banking institutions including Mr. George Mensah-Asante, Managing Director and Chief Executive officer of EcoBank Liberia, and Mr. Sayed Gbalazeh CEO of Activa Liberia among others.
Speaking further on the non-rotational of compliance officers across the country, the FIU Boss warned that violation of such mandate would meet with stiff resistance and drastic punitive action would be taken against the said institution that will violate.
“In fact, the gain we have made over the years at the FIU cannot be overstated without mentioning the valuable contribution of compliance officers at various banking institutions. To this backdrop, we want to call on the Liberia Bankers Association, and Liberia Insurance Association to take the establishment of this forum seriously and assist individual compliance officers in meeting their goals’’ he explained.
Speaking on the launch of the Compliance Officers Forum of Liberia, Mr. Harris said they are excited about the formation of the group, further stating that they have concluded with their action plan requirement which is the formation of a compliance forum network.
He continues that they believe that this network will go a long way because compliance officers remain the first line of defense in the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation.
Director General Harris calls for all hands on deck to make training available for compliance officers, adding that it is time that their compliance office is professionalized by wearing destinations like certified compliance officers, and other certified programs that will enable them to be effective.
For his part, the newly inducted Interim Chairman of the Compliance Officers Forum of Liberia Kojo G. Weeks, expressed excitement over the formation and establishment of COF-Liberia, saying he will make sure the institution goes to the election.
‘’Compliance officers are there to prevent negative and suspicious things like tracting and withdrawer from happening and in cases where it happens, we should be able to detect it and prevent it.” Mr. Harris further remarked.
Reported by: Stephen G. Fellajuah
WhatApp: +231777015294
Email: fellajuahstepheng@gmail.com
