By Yerima Kini Nsom
In a decisive move to cleanse Cameroon’s financial system and choke off channels for money laundering and terrorism financing, the Minister Delegate in Ministry of Finance, Yaouba Abdoulaye, has declared that the country has entered the final battle to exit the Financial Action Task Force, FATF grey list.
He made the declaration while chairing the second ordinary session of the National Anti-Money Laundering Committee at the Concord Intercontinental Hotel in Yaounde on October 22.
Flanked by members of the Committee for Coordination of National Policies to Combat Money Laundering, Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, LBC/FT-FP, the government official said the fight against illicit financial flows is now a top priority of the Head of State, President Paul Biya.
Cameroon has been on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force, FATF, the world’s financial police based in Paris, since June 23, 2023. Being grey-listed means the country has strategic deficiencies in its Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing, AML/CFT, regime. The consequence is severe: international banks cut correspondent banking ties, cost of transfers soars, investors demand a higher risk premium, and the country is perceived as a haven for dirty money.
At the FATF plenary in Paris in October 2025, Cameroon was maintained on the list. The FATF said progress was made but insufficient.
In the first session of the year, held on February 20, 2026, the government had expressed disappointment anger that only 11 out of 24 Recommended Actions agreed with FATF were “Largely Completed” – a rate of 46 percent.
On account of this, the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze, had issued a stern warning that 100 percent implementation is the only guarantee to exit the grey list. Eight months later, the warning has produced results.
According to officials, since February, Cameroon submitted two Progress Reports – the 7th and the 8th Progress Report presented in Abidjan in September 2026. After examination by FATF experts, eight additional actions have been validated.
Cameroon has therefore moved from 13 residual actions to just five residual actions out of 24. That is a leap from 46 percent to nearly 80 percent compliance.
“I say 40 percent progress because at the 7th Report we still had 13 actions, after the 8th we have only five left,” the official the 25-member Committee. “I would like to salute and congratulate those actors who have manifested themselves positively.”
He revealed that the Prime Minister, Head of Government, has personally chaired meetings, written warning letters to reluctant administrations and received several times the Permanent Secretary of GABAC – the Anti-Money Laundering Group for Central Africa – to monitor Cameroon’s strategy.
The five residual actions relate essentially to the supervision of Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions – DNFBPs.
This is the heart of anti-money laundering. It concerns Lawyers, Notaries, Chartered Accountants, Tax Advisors, Real Estate Agents, the Mining Sector and the Gaming Sector. These professions handle huge cash flows – buying houses, creating shell companies, moving mining revenues, laundering through casinos and sports betting. FATF demands that they must not only have rules on paper but must be inspected, must file Suspicious Transaction Reports to ANIF, and must be sanctioned when they fail.
Without a legal mechanism to freeze, seize, manage and confiscate criminal assets, anti-money laundering is toothless. Criminals must know crime does not pay.
Other previous deficiencies cited in the Information Note are now largely cleared. These include the absence of a framework for Non-Profit Organizations to prevent them from being used to finance terrorism, the absence of a mechanism to implement UN Security Council targeted financial sanctions, and the dematerialisation of exchanges between ANIF and its partners to speed up investigations.
“I insist on the fact that this 9th Report must be the last, and that the first session of the Coordination Committee for the year 2027 be devoted to the preparation of the on-site visit of the FATF, which will then mark the end of the enhanced monitoring process,” said the Minister Delegate
The Committee, created by a Presidential Decree of October 30, 2023, composed of 25 members from the Presidency, Prime Ministry, MINFI, MINJUSTICE, MINAT, BEAC, ANIF, ANTIC and professional orders, is required by law to meet at least twice a year and submit half-yearly and annual reports to the President of the Republic.
If the calendar is respected, Cameroon, which has spent three years under the shadow of being labeled a high-risk jurisdiction for money laundering and terrorist financing, could exit in the first half of 2027, restoring its financial credibility and making it safer for clean investment.
