The Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa published the outcome of its 2026 West African Compliance Summit, where participants called for a more integrated approach to anti-money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism and countering proliferation financing across the region. The main recommendations were for GIABA and competent authorities to promote regional peer learning on the technological governance of AML, embed Enterprise Risk Management, governance models and regulatory engagement into compliance frameworks, develop proportionate minimum expectations for AML supervisory tools and implementation roadmaps, and use follow-up surveys to track progress after the summit. The discussions centered on the view that siloed AML/CFT/PF arrangements create blind spots and raise risk exposure. Participants stressed that effective frameworks require clear responsibilities, independent oversight and closer coordination between risk management, compliance, internal control and internal audit. For AML tools and artificial intelligence, they highlighted the need for gap assessments, implementation roadmaps, independent validation, explainability, auditable tracking of threshold changes, monitoring of false positives and false negatives, human oversight and reporting to boards. Reporting entities were also urged to strengthen controls and governance and improve cooperation and information sharing with authorities and other stakeholders to address evolving proliferation financing risks, alongside stronger public-private partnerships and regional collaboration.

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