Ecobank Counters Money Laundering Across Africa
Lessons for All Banks
Abstract
Money laundering and terrorism financing are serious threats to Africa’s financial system which are exacerbated by the number of regulations that banks have to manage. Ecobank Group, a pan-African bank based in Togo, found itself managing 33 separate anti-money laundering / combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) transaction monitoring systems across 36 African countries, while having to respond to 25 local regulators and several international regulatory bodies. They faced substantial IT challenges, operational inefficiencies, and recognized that they could not continue to resource a broken model. The report examines how Ecobank, with its partner FICO TONBELLER, successfully implemented a central AML/CFT compliance system and governance program. In Celent’s judgment, all banks can learn from this case study.