Working Groups To Begin The Second Round
Liberia’s Specialized Working Groups on the Second Round Risk Assessment is expected to embark on a nationwide data collection to gather critical information on Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism (ML/TF) as part of the country’s second round of National Risk Assessment (NRA-2).
This nationwide exercise is slated to run from September to November 2026, and it is aimed at bolstering Liberia’s defenses against money laundering, terrorism financing, and proliferation financing.
The Assessment will also address evolving issues of new technologies and increasingly sophisticated criminal methodologies that have characterized the financial landscape of Liberia since its first national risk assessment in 2019, as noted by GIABA research.
Liberia’s AML/CFT regime’s policy arm, the Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee (IMC) has officially designated Hon. Mohammed Ali Nasser, who is the Officer-In-Charge (OIC) of the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA), as Chairperson of the National Steering Committee, charged to work along with other competent authorities and relevant stakeholders to conduct the Country’s second risk assessment.
The National Steering Committee, among other things, has a major responsibility to coordinate NRA-2 process across Liberia and to present evidence-based report to the Intergovernmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) through the IMC.
Consistent with GIABA’s findings, Liberia’s Second Round of National Risk Assessment will focus on three pillars during the data collection exercise – to include national ownership, sustainable capacity, and actionable results – ensuring that the final NRA Report serves as a “living document” and a strategic compass to inform policy and empower institutions to make risk-based decisions.
It can be recalled that the Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) in collaboration with FIA, conducted a five-day pre-risk assessment workshop in Monrovia as part of ongoing effort to strengthen Liberia’s defenses against Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing, and Proliferation Financing.
Held March 23 to 27, 2026, the pre-risk assessment workshop brought together stakeholders from across Liberia’s public and private sectors. The workshop was also geared towards identifying, assessing, and understanding risks within the country’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime.
Participants were drawn from competent authorities, including the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), the Financial Intelligence Agency of Liberia (FIA), Ministry of Justice, Liberia National Police (LNP), Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA), National Lottery Authority (NLA), Ministry of Mines and Energy, Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), and the Liberia Bank for Development and Investment, among other entities to form ten (10) working groups.
Following the pre-risk assessment, Liberia now gears up for the conduct of the its second National Risk Assessment (NRA-2) through the Specialized Working Groups, beginning with a nationwide data collection exercise, which is set to begin shortly.
Pursuant to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 1, jurisdictions are mandated to identify, assess, and understand their money laundering and terrorist financing risks.
Numerators of the data collection exercise were earlier trained on how to use the Kobo Collect software, to enable real-time and consistent data gathering in major AML/CFT sectors. The software operates both online and offline, and is expected to improve questionnaire administration and data consistency across institutions.