Maputo, July 17, 2025 (Lusa) - Mozambique has been admitted to the global group of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) Egmont, as part of the process of strengthening the prevention and combating of money laundering and related crimes, the Mozambican Ministry of Finance announced on Thursday.
In a statement, the ministry said that "as part of the government's efforts to make the system for preventing and combating money laundering, terrorist financing and related crimes more robust and effective," the Mozambique Financial Intelligence Office (GIFiM), which is the Mozambican FIU, "was formally admitted" to Egmont, the global group of financial intelligence units, on 10 July.
This admission comes at a time when Mozambique is awaiting a decision in September on its removal from the International Action Group (FATF) ‘grey list’ of money laundering countries.
Egmont is a forum currently made up of 170 countries, created in June 1995 in Brussels "to promote cooperation, exchange information and coordinate training" among the group's member Financial Intelligence Units, in order to improve countries' intervention in preventing and combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related crimes, explains the Ministry of Finance.
It adds that Mozambique's accession to the group "was supported" by its counterparts in South Africa, Brazil and Malawi.
Mozambique has been on the FATF’s international ‘grey list’ of money laundering countries since 2022, but the government says it has already complied with all the recommendations for its removal.
"As part of efforts to remove Mozambique from the grey list, Mozambique has already complied with the 26 actions of the FATF plan, which led this institution to recognise the capacity of our institutions to prevent and combat money laundering and terrorist financing," said Minister of Finance Carla Loveira on 16 June.
She added that the International Action Group Cabinet had approved "an on-site visit on 8 and 9 September, an essential step in the process of removing Mozambique from the “grey list”’.
"The FATF Cabinet also approved the holding of a face-to-face meeting in Mozambique from 8 to 11 September, where the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) will assess the countries on the “grey list” worldwide. The scheduling of the ICRG meeting in Mozambique represents recognition that the country is implementing a sustainable system to prevent and combat money laundering and terrorist financing," the minister of finance added.
The ICRG is a body that assesses and monitors countries with strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and terrorist financing structures, identifying risks and working with countries to correct them, and may include them on the FATF's ‘grey’ watch list or ‘black’ list of non-cooperative countries.
In addition to Mozambique, the ‘grey list’ also includes Angola, as well as neighbouring countries such as Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania, among others.
The Mozambican authorities announced on 15 May that they had already complied with all the indicators that led to their inclusion on the FATF's ‘grey list’ of financial jurisdictions on 22 October 2022, namely for failing to eliminate deficiencies in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
"We are waiting for the procedures to be completed so that we can be removed from the “grey list” and return to the normal situation in which we have always lived, in which our financial institutions, our reputation and the attitude of foreign investors towards the country will returns (...) and we are no longer seen as money launderers," said Luís Abel Cezerilo, national leader for Mozambique's removal from the ’grey list," at a press conference.
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