The Financial Intelligence Agency of Liberia (FIA) has officially unveiled to key stakeholders the draft Anti-Money laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Regulation that is intended to safeguard Liberia’s “profitable” Real Estate Sector that is prone to financial crime like money laundering.
Based on key findings highlighted in the 2019 National Risk Assessment (NRA) Report, the country’s Real Estate Sector has been considered as vulnerable to Money Laundering (ML) and Terrorist Financing (TF). Similar risk concern has been pointed out by the Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) in its second round of Mutual Evaluation Report (MER2) that was released in 2023 about Liberia.
In response to GIABA’s concern flagged against one of Liberia’s critical sectors, the Financial Intelligence Agency of Liberia has designed a mitigating measure, which led to the Agency conducting a sectoral risk assessment that has identified the vulnerabilities and threats confronting the Real Estate Sector.
Recently, following the release of the Risk assessment report, the Regulation and Supervision Section of the FIA developed a draft regulation that is intended to bring the Real Estate Industry under full compliance with Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) standards.
In the Agency’s Conference room on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, an interactive stakeholders’ validation meeting was organized by the FIA to enable representatives of various public and private institutions to technically scrutinize the draft regulation that is tailored to help promote the culture of voluntary compliance with AML/CFT standards in the Real Estate Sector.
The engaging session brought together participating representatives from across the Real Estate Sector who technically reviewed and provided timely feedback to help ensure the draft regulation is practical, effective, and aligned with international standards.
Representatives of the participating institutions included: Liberia Land Authority, National Housing Authority, Liberia Revenue Authority, Ministry of Public Works, Association of Liberian Construction Contractors, Liberia Real Estate Union, Legal professionals, and members of the press.
At the same time, the active involvement of these stakeholders is critical to strengthening the integrity and transparency of Liberia’s real estate market. Their contributions will help shape a robust regulatory framework that safeguards the sector against financial crimes and promotes sustainable development.