Kenya listed as high-risk money laundering destination
The European Commission has added Kenya to a list of high-risk jurisdictions with glaring deficiencies in countering money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
In their updated list, Kenya is fourth among the 10 new countries that have been added to the European Union list of jurisdictions, which will now face increased financial monitoring.
“The European Commission has updated its list of high‑risk jurisdictions presenting strategic deficiencies in their national anti‑money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes. EU entities covered by the AML framework are required to apply enhanced vigilance in transactions involving these countries. This is important to protect the EU financial system,” a statement from the commission indicated on June 10, 2025.
“A number of third‑country jurisdictions were added to the list – Algeria, Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Monaco, Namibia, Nepal and Venezuela), while other jurisdictions were delisted (Barbados, Gibraltar, Jamaica, Panama, the Philippines, Senegal, Uganda, and the United Arab Emirates).”
Tarnished image
The inclusion of Kenya in the list tarnishes the country’s image in the League of Nations as a reliable regional and global partner in the war against money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities.
Through the recommendation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is the global watchdog for money laundering and terror financing, it was determined that Kenya lacks a clear strategy in the prosecution of money laundering offences.
The report equally found that despite conducting several investigations on terrorism financing, the country has yet to make any meaningful progress on the prosecution of those involved in such offences.
The EU assessment equally determined that the country has a large presence of Not-for-profit organisations, which remain largely unregulated, and therefore present opportunities to be used for terror financing and money laundering.
Repercussions of the listing
Equally, the commission observes that despite Kenya being a leading destination in Africa with one of the highest uses of digital assets like cryptocurrency, the sector remains largely unregulated, thereby presenting risks emerging from money laundering or terror financing.
With the listing coming up after Kenya got off the FATF list in 2010, some of the implications could be the loss of foreign aid and funding, which may greatly impact the already struggling donor-funded initiatives in the country.
The development may also mean that countries included in the list will incur higher compliance costs when dealing with other countries that have satisfied the EU in terms of their adherence to financial controls.
Equally, Kenya may face trading restrictions from compliant countries, thereby reversing the gains made in strengthening the value of the shilling against major global currencies.
The commission equally disclosed that Kenya was among the countries that had written actionable plans to address the deficiencies found in their financial regulatory systems, and that it was looking forward to reviewing the proposals.
“Algeria, Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Monaco, Namibia, Nepal and Venezuela have made written high-level political commitments to address the identified deficiencies and have developed action plans with the FATF for this purpose. The Commission welcomes these commitments and calls on these jurisdictions to swiftly complete the implementation of their respective action plans within the proposed time frames,” the EU noted.
