The Central Bank of Samoa through its Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has completed the Anti-
Money Laundering and Countering Terrorist Financing (AML and CTF) Onsite Inspections of our 4

Commercial Banks from the beginning to the end of October 2021. The 4 commercial banks are
the two international ones – ANZ Bank (Samoa) Limited and BSP Bank. The two local commercial
banks are National Bank of Samoa and Samoa Commercial Bank.
2. The FIU, which is now better equipped with anti-money laundering certifications and certified
fraud examinations, set out to fully implement the strategies and innovations gathered through
these universal certifications. The Onsite inspections are part of the CBS mandate under the
Money Laundering Prevention Act 2007. The onsite inspections included the FIU team going into
each Bank and examining methodically selected Bank Records and interviewing staff.
3. The FIU examined the commercial banks entire systems and policies in relation to AML and CTF
matters, and to assess whether all these policies are properly put into effect in order to effectively
counter money laundering, as well as their proper implementation.
4. Upon completion of the onsite examinations of all 4 commercial banks, the final assessment for
the overall risk of money laundering in the commercial banks of Samoa is very low. Not only are
the risks very low, their sophisticated money laundering alert systems are of a very high standard.
5. Domestically, Samoa’s commercial banks are thriving under the AML/CTF systems as the risk is
very low. All 4 Commercial Banks fully cooperated with the FIU as they carried out their onsite
inspections. The FIU acknowledges that the Commercial Banks have made great efforts to
improve their AML/CTF systems and standards since the last FIU Onsite inspection in 2017.
6. CBS would also like to advise that contrary to misleading media reports, Samoa is not on any
blacklist of any kind regarding its anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing
systems. The ratings of Samoa are done through an international standard setter – FATF (Financial
Action Task Force) which is headquartered in France. Apart from FATF, there is no other
universally recognized standard-setter in terms of anti-money laundering.

7. Samoa is a member of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), which is a FATF style
Body, and is in turn a member of the FATF. In simple terms, Samoa is a member of APG, and APG
is a member of FATF. Hence, APG and Samoa all fall under the umbrella of FATF.
8. On a different note, FIU have completed AML inspections for 8 out of the 11 Money Transfer
Operators (“MTOs”). This will be completed in early next year and we
will also issue a press release upon completion of the process.
9. On a more international level, these are also efforts by Samoa to assist in addressing the
correspondent banking issue we are currently facing. There is no one single solution to this, but
requires multiple efforts which we are prepared to undergo.