Bahrain leads fight against dirty money
NOB | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Bahrain ranked first in the GCC on the Basel AML Index, an independent annual ranking that assesses the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) around the world. Bahrain scored 4.82 points according to the report, which is the only independent indicator issued by a non-profit organisation rating countries worldwide according to the risk of money laundering.
Bahrain has been ranked 91st out of 152 countries in the world on the Basel AML Index 2023.
The 12th edition of the Basel AML survey ranked Bahrain 7th in the Arab region, followed by Algeria (7.22), UAE (5.74), Saudi Arabia (5.38), Qatar (5.19), Egypt (5.06), and Jordan (4.90).
The GCC countries listed in the index and their rankings are as follows (lower figure equals better score): Bahrain 4.82, Qatar 5.19, Saudi Arabia 5.38, and the UAE 5.74.
In 2022, Bahrain maintained its rank as 1st in the Arab World. Both reports indicate Bahrain's progress in strengthening measures to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing.
The main source of data on countries’ performance in regulating the crypto industry for AML/CFT purposes comes from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
It is based on a composite methodology, with 18 indicators categorised into five domains in line with the five key factors: shortcomings in the AML/CFT framework, corruption and bribery, poor financial transparency and standards, poor public transparency and accountability, and weak political rights and rule of law are considered to contribute to a high risk of ML/TF.
The 12th Public Edition of the Basel AML Index reveals that the average global ML/TF risk level increased from 5.25 in 2022 to 5.31 in 2023, where 10 is the maximum risk.
The top 5 best countries on low-risk scores based on available data in the world as per the Basel AML Index are Iceland (2.87), Finland (2.96), Estonia (3.00), Andorra (3.09), and Sweden (3.20).
Haiti (8.25), Chad (8.14), Myanmar (8.13), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (8.10), and the Republic of the Congo (7.91) are high-risk countries.
Similar to last year, risks increased in four of the five domains measured by the Basel AML Index: corruption and bribery; financial transparency and standards; public transparency and accountability; and political and legal risks. Scores for the quality of anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) frameworks remained static.
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