Africa Compliance Hub – Introduction
The Africa Compliance Hub (ACH) is a private intelligence hub that provides a platform for the secure and anonymised exchange of risk management information from around the world. As a starting point the hub will focus mainly on AML and counter terrorist financing (CFT), sanctions and embargoes, anti-bribery, and corruption (ABC) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) solutions. The ACH will enable the members to better measure, understand, manage, and mitigate the risk and compliance expectations of African companies and countries. The platform will help these members better measure, understand, manage, and mitigate the risk and compliance expectations of ‘western’ companies and investors.
Join us at our launch event on 12th February at 12:00 pm (GMT) as we share some insights into the benefits of becoming a member.
The ACH is particularly relevant since the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, comprising 54 countries except Eritea, came into effect on the 1st of January 2021. But the question at the top of every investors mind is how risk-free it is to do business in Africa, even with the AfCFTA in effect. According to the head of the trade bloc’s secretariat: “Most African countries are not ready to implement the terms of the African Continental Free Trade Area when the new zone comes into effect on January 1”. With the 33 countries that have ratified the agreement there is still a lack of trust by investors as a lot of businesses in Africa simply lack best practise, procedures and infrastructure to facilitate tariff-free trade. Also with Brexit finally signed off, the UK will definitely be looking to Africa’s emerging markets for new trade deals as it has recently signed deals with about 46 African countries.
Indeed, these are some of the issues which the ACH is designed to address.
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