At the close of the 2026 West African Compliance Summit organised by the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) from 29 June to 2 July 2026 in Saly (Senegal), participants, in order to advance regional objectives, urged the institution and the competent authorities to, among other things, promote regional peer learning on AML technology governance, enterprise risk management (ERM) integration, model governance and regulatory engagement; support the development of proportionate minimum expectations for AML supervisory tools and implementation roadmaps; and use follow-up surveys to measure institutional progress after the Summit.
Under the theme “Transforming compliance: integrating governance, enterprise risk management and AML/CFT/CPF in the age of technology”, stakeholders discussed and shared their experiences on topics including the strategic transformation of compliance, governance architecture for effective AML/CFT/CPF, AML/CFT/CPF risk management and risk-based compliance, integrated financial crime management, technology as an enabler of compliance, emerging risks and proliferation financing, and compliance culture and cooperation.
During the discussions, participants stressed, for example, that the traditional siloed approach to AML/CFT/CPF creates blind spots and increases risk exposure. They agreed unanimously that an effective AML/CFT/CPF framework requires strong governance, with clearly defined responsibilities and independent oversight at all levels of the organisation. There was also consensus on the importance of stronger coordination between the risk management, compliance, internal control and internal audit functions in order to promote a more coherent and effective approach to managing financial crime risks. Participants noted that better information sharing, harmonised control processes and integrated governance arrangements can help reduce duplication, strengthen assurance, and improve operational efficiency and the institution’s ability to detect, prevent and respond to financial crime risks across all control areas. On AML tools and AI, participants highlighted the need for gap assessments, roadmaps, independent validation, explainability, auditable tracking of threshold changes, monitoring of false positives and false negatives, human oversight and reporting to the board. To comply with international standards, participants urged reporting entities to, among other things, strengthen their control systems and governance frameworks while improving cooperation and information sharing with the competent authorities and other stakeholders in order to address evolving proliferation financing risks. Finally, they called for better information sharing, stronger public-private partnerships and closer regional collaboration to promote a common understanding of risks and improve the overall effectiveness of AML/CFT/CPF frameworks in GIABA Member States.
The opening session, chaired by Ms Zelma Yollande Nobre Fassinou, ECOWAS Resident Representative in Senegal, was also attended by Mr Edwin Harris Jr., Director General of GIABA; Ms Shola Phillips, Special Adviser to Dr Olayemi Michael Cardoso, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Ms Vânia Alexandra Coronel da Rosa, Chair of the Forum of Compliance Officers of GIABA Member States (FCOGMS); and Ms Khadidja Fayez Fall Diop, Secretary General of Senegal’s National Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (CENTIF).
Participants in the summit came from national financial intelligence units (CENTIFs), regulatory and supervisory authorities and the private sector, including banks, FinTechs, insurance companies, financial market operators and designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs), from GIABA Member States and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
Download the press release
- English version (PDF, 186 KB)
- French version (PDF, 186 KB)
- Portuguese version (PDF, 179 KB)
