Head of Governmentbriefed on the annual report of the National Financial Information Authority

The Head of Government, Aziz Akhannouch, held on Wednesday, January 12, 2022, a virtual meeting with the President of the National Financial Information Authority, Mr. Jawhar AlNafisi, who presented him with the Authority's annual report for the year 2020, in accordance with the requirements of Law No. 43-05 on combating money laundering, as amended and supplemented.
During the meeting, the two parties discussed a number of details related to ways to improve and develop the work of the authority, as a meeting will be held at the beginning of next February with officials of the concerned government sectors to discuss data related to this regard.
The report, which was reviewed by the Head of Government, recorded the upward trend in the indicators of the Authority's activity during 2020, with regard to the number of suspicious statements, which increased by 23% compared to 2019, and the same year recorded stability in terms of information exchange between the National Authority and its foreign counterparts in the field of combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
Despite the exceptional circumstances that characterized the year 2020 as a result of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Authority continued its efforts in coordination with the concerned national authorities to enhance the technical commitment of the national anti-money laundering and terrorist financing system and its effectiveness to get out of the process of follow-up enhanced by the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (GAFIMOAN) and the Financial Action Task Force (GAFI) within the specified deadlines. 
The year 2020 was marked by the preparation of the legislative amendment represented by Law No. 18-12 amending and supplementing the Penal Code and Law No. 43-05 on combating money laundering, which contributed to strengthening the preventive and injunctive system, reviewing the legal system and institutional framework of the National Authority, strengthening the framework for supervising non-financial businesses and professions, institutionalizing the public register of effective beneficiaries of legal persons, in addition to adopting a legal and institutional framework for the application of targeted financial sanctions issued by the Security Council. of the United Nations.
At the level of effectiveness, the year 2020 was marked by the preparation of a post-observation report addressed to the International Cooperation Review Group of the Financial Action Task Force (GAFI), as well as the issuance of several decisions, guidance notes and guidelines, while accompanying the various supervisory and supervisory authorities concerned with the financial and non-financial sectors in preparing texts for the sectors they supervise, with the aim of improving the degree of technical compliance with international standards and facilitating the proper understanding of legal provisions and ensuring their proper application.
On the other hand, during 2020, the National Financial Information Authority, in coordination with the supervisory and supervisory authorities of the financial and non-financial sectors, continued to circulate the results and conclusions of the national risk assessment report, and a national action plan was approved in June 2020 in order to prevent and control risks identified at the national and sectoral levels.