The Moroccan Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Framework in Light of FATF Requirements: Current Status and Prospects for Modernization

Abstract

The fight against money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CFT) represents a central challenge for emerging economies subject to increasing pressure from international standards. The 2024 Enhanced Follow-Up Report of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) shows that Morocco has made considerable regulatory progress while highlighting persistent operational shortcomings that affect the overall performance of the framework. This article therefore proposes a structured narrative analysis of the Moroccan AML/CFT system, based on a documentary review encompassing FATF and MENAFATF reports, national legislation, and domestic regulatory documentation. The results reveal that despite Morocco’s high level of technical compliance, key challenges remain, particularly in beneficial ownership transparency, supervision of virtual assets, digital investigation capabilities, data interoperability, and inter-institutional coordination. In this regard, the study underscores the need for progressive modernization of the Moroccan framework, grounded in organizational strengthening and improved integration of emerging technologies to enhance data quality, supervisory efficiency, and risk detection

ClassificationJEL : K22

Paper type : Theoretical Research