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Rabat – Morocco ranks 64th in terms of exposure to risks of money laundering and terrorism financing, according to a recent publication from Basel AML, a research institution.
On the regional level, Morocco ranks third on the list of Arab countries with the highest exposure to risks of money laundering and terrorism financing.
The index comprises a wide range of sub-indexes that tracks countries’ exposure to bribery, corruption, among other threats.
This is not the first time a research institution sheds light on the issue of money laundering in Morocco.
In February 2021, Morocco featured on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental money laundering watchdog.
By placing Morocco on the grey list, the organization classified Morocco among the “problematic” countries such as war-ravaged Syria and Yemen.
Such listings significantly affect a country’s ability to attract investment, as this means it is no longer perceived as a business-friendly destination.
Grey listing also affects countries in global rankings and ratings by benchmark rating agencies, further affecting their likelihood of attracting foreign investment.
Soon after FATF issued the report, experts criticized the organization for the reputation-damaging listing, reiterating that world-renowned countries for money laundering were absent from the ranking such as Luxembourg or the United Arab Emirate (UAE).
The UAE is widely known as a safe haven for shady wealth, and Luxemburg was equally locked into a money laundry scandal in the same year the report was issued, yet they remained largely absent from the list of problematic countries, experts argued.
Instead, the FATF offered the UAE a deadline of one year to comply with its standards. In March 2022, the organization updated their grey list and added the UAE, explaining that the Gulf country is not doing enough to deter criminals from hiding wealth.
