Basel AML Index 2024 declares Myanmar as High-Risk and San Marino as Low

On December 2, 2024, Myanmar was identified as the world’s highest-risk jurisdiction for money laundering in the 13th edition of “the 2024 Basel AML Index” by the Basil Institute on Governance.

The Basel AML Index assigns a score from 0 (low risk) to 10 (high risk) to different countries according to different factors, including corruption levels & fraud risks, quality of AML/CFT framework, regulatory frameworks, political or legal risks, and financial transparency.

The Southeast Asian nation also surpassed Haiti & the Democratic Republic of Congo, which ranked 2nd & 3rd, respectively.

Several European countries, such as Iceland & Finland, were ranked among the lowest-risk jurisdictions. Asia, Africa & South America were identified as high-risk, face scrutiny from global financial institutions & can be subjected to sanctions.

Countries Covered  Under2024 Basel AML Index

The 2024 Basel AML Index has covered 164 jurisdictions, an increase of 12 countries compared to the previous year.

To be included in the Edition, countries and jurisdictions should meet standard criteria such as undergoing a 4th round of “Mutual Evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)” and providing data for at least 65% of the index’s indicators, according to the Basel AML Index report.

2024 Basel AML Index Rating

The Basel AML Index proves to be a valuable tool for policymakers, law enforcement agencies & financial institutions.

Australia was ranked 17th, Israel 15th, U.S. in 63rd & U.K. was 25th.

However, the Top 5 Countries are:

1. San Marino – 2.96
2. Iceland- 3.00
3. Finland – 3.07
4. Estonia – 3.16
5. Andorra – 3.29

The Bottom 5 are:

1. Myanmar – 8.17
2. Haiti – 7.92
3. The Democratic Republic Of The Congo – 7.73
4. Chad – 7.60
5. Venezuela – 7.59

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Update on Basel AML Index Methodology

The Basel Institute on Governance has announced significant changes to the methodology of the Basel AML Index, effective November 2024. These changes are based on the findings of the 2024 annual expert review, including:

• Two new indicators have been added to the “Corruption and fraud risks” domain, to reflect the rising global concern with fraud as a predicate offense for money laundering. Data for these indicators will be sourced from the Global Organized Crime Index.
• Three indicators have been removed due to data source discontinuation or changes in methodology.
• The “Financial Secrecy Index” has been moved to the “Financial transparency and standards” domain for better clarity and alignment.
• Minor adjustments have been made to the indicators’ weighting to reflect the above mentioned changes.

According to the Basel AML Index report, these changes improve the accuracy & relevance of the Basel AML index in assessing countries’ AML/CTF frameworks.