Law No. 14/2023 of 28 August – Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism and the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act – in line with Recommendation No. 1 of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), establishes the duty of supervisory authorities to conduct sectoral assessments of money laundering risk.

Between November 2023 and February 2024, the Banco de Moçambique carried out this assessment in collaboration with the institutions under its supervision and the Mozambique Financial Intelligence Office, in order to enhance understanding of the threats and vulnerabilities associated with money laundering, so as to:

• adopt a risk-based supervisory approach, as recommended by FATF; and

• set priorities in resource allocation, aiming to strengthen internal controls and mitigate identified risks.

The methodology used to assess exposure to money laundering risks focused on the sectors under the central bank’s supervision that pose the highest risk due to their weight in the financial sector. For this purpose, institutions were grouped into four categories: (i) credit institutions, (ii) mobile money institutions, (iii) exchange bureaus, and (iv) microcredit operators.

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