FIA Leads Nationwide Assessment of Financial Crime Risks | Business

The Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) is leading a nationwide assessment of Liberia’s financial crime risks as the country moves to identify emerging vulnerabilities to money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing.

The second round of Liberia’s National Risk Assessment (NRA-2) is expected to begin nationwide data collection this month and continue through November 2026, with specialized working groups gathering critical information from major sectors of the economy.

The exercise comes seven years after Liberia conducted its first National Risk Assessment in 2019 and is intended to provide an updated picture of the country’s exposure to financial crimes amid changes in the financial landscape, including the increasing use of new technologies and more sophisticated criminal methods.

The assessment is being coordinated under the policy direction of the Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee (IMC), which oversees Liberia’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime.

The IMC has designated Mohammed Ali Nasser, Officer-In-Charge of the FIA, as Chairperson of the National Steering Committee for NRA-2.

The committee is responsible for coordinating the assessment across Liberia and working with competent authorities and relevant stakeholders to ensure that the exercise produces credible, evidence-based findings.

The findings will subsequently be presented to the Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) through the IMC.

The assessment will focus on three key pillars: national ownership, sustainable capacity and actionable results.

According to the assessment framework, the approach is intended to ensure that the final NRA report does not become a static document but serves as a “living document” and strategic compass for policymakers and institutions responsible for addressing financial crime risks.

The updated assessment is expected to help Liberia identify areas of vulnerability and enable relevant institutions to make more informed, risk-based decisions in preventing and combating financial crimes.

The nationwide exercise follows a five-day pre-risk assessment workshop conducted in Monrovia from March 23 to 27, 2026, by GIABA in collaboration with the FIA.

The workshop brought together stakeholders from Liberia’s public and private sectors to identify, assess and develop a better understanding of risks within the country’s AML/CFT framework.

Participants included representatives of the Central Bank of Liberia, FIA, Ministry of Justice, Liberia National Police, Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency, National Lottery Authority, Ministry of Mines and Energy, Liberia Revenue Authority and Liberia Bank for Development and Investment, among other institutions.

The participants were organized into 10 specialized working groups that will support the second-round assessment.

With the pre-assessment phase completed, the working groups are now preparing to conduct the nationwide data collection exercise, which officials expect to provide the evidence needed to assess Liberia’s current financial crime vulnerabilities.

Enumerators assigned to the exercise have already received training in the use of Kobo Collect software to standardize and improve the collection of information from institutions and other relevant sources.

The software operates both online and offline and is expected to facilitate real-time data gathering, improve questionnaire administration and enhance consistency in information collected across AML/CFT sectors.

The assessment is being conducted in line with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 1, which requires jurisdictions to identify, assess and understand their money laundering and terrorist financing risks and take appropriate measures based on those risks.

For Liberia, the NRA-2 is expected to provide a critical update on the country’s financial crime environment while strengthening institutional coordination and supporting the development of more effective policies and preventive measures.

The exercise will also help authorities respond to emerging threats associated with new technologies and increasingly sophisticated criminal methodologies that were not as prominent during the country’s first risk assessment in 2019.

The FIA-led process is therefore expected to serve as a foundation for strengthening Liberia’s AML/CFT framework and ensuring that national institutions are better equipped to detect, prevent and respond to financial crimes.