Harbel, Margibi - Liberia’s Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, has launched a strong appeal for enhanced regulatory systems and deeper regional cooperation to address the fast-moving world of virtual assets.
Addressing regulators, policymakers, and financial sector leaders from across West Africa at the opening of the 2025 GIBA Consultative Forum, Minister Ngafuan said Liberia’s hosting of the forum highlights its growing leadership in regional financial governance.
He noted the country’s increasing role as a hub for major African gatherings including the African Road Readiness Home Association meeting and an upcoming ECOWAS monetary forum calling this trend “a strong signal of our progress.”
The forum’s theme, “Risk-Based Supervision of Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs),” is one Minister Ngafuan understands intimately from his early career as a bank examiner.
He described virtual assets as powerful tools for expanding financial access, yet equally capable of causing harm when misused.
“Virtual assets are like fire,” he said. “They can warm the house on a cold night or burn it down.”
He cautioned that without adequate oversight, virtual assets can enable terrorism financing, cybercrime, fraud, and other illicit financial flows that undermine national and regional stability.
Minister Ngafuan underscored that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) expanded AML/CFT standards in 2019 to include virtual assets and VASPs.
Referring to results from the second-round mutual evaluation, he noted that 16 of 17 countries were either non-compliant or only partially compliant with FATF Recommendation 15, which covers virtual assets. Calling this “a sobering statistic,” he emphasized the urgency of capacity building and regulatory preparedness as third-round evaluations begin.
The minister highlighted Liberia’s efforts to reinforce its integrity systems through the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development (AAID), which identifies illicit financial flows and money laundering as major threats. Liberia is working to align its systems with global AML/CFT standards, strengthen institutional capacity, and craft a regulatory framework tailored to virtual assets.
Although still early in this process, Minister Ngafuan said the government intends to “balance innovation with integrity” by embracing technological change while guarding against financial crime.
He urged participants to see the forum as the start of long-term collective action. “This must be more than a gathering, it must be a movement,” he said. “Because the money we are trying to regulate is borderless, and the threats are borderless, our response must be borderless too.”
Also speaking at the event, GIBA Director-General Edwin W. Harris Jr. reinforced the alarm over the region’s weak compliance with international standards.
He noted that nearly all GIBA member states underperformed on Recommendation 15 and that most still lack the regulatory frameworks needed to supervise a rapidly expanding virtual asset sector. The theme was chosen, he said, because of widespread underperformance and the rapid rise of VASPs that outpace regulatory readiness.
Mr. Harris reminded stakeholders that FATF’s 2018 standards extended AML/CFT and proliferation financing obligations to virtual assets, yet many jurisdictions have not conducted risk assessments or enacted required reforms. With 16 of 17 countries non-compliant, he called for urgent, coordinated action. Effective oversight, he added, is essential for financial stability and for ensuring VASPs operate profitably and transparently.
Supported by the African Development Bank, the forum aims to deepen understanding of Recommendation 15, strengthen supervisory capacity, and promote the exchange of best practices for regulating VASPs. It also supports public–private cooperation vital to safeguarding financial integrity.
Mr. Harris thanked the IMF, the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), and experts including Rebecca Odeh and Maria Jamila Zahari for their contributions.
He also commended President Joseph M. Boakai Sr. and Liberia’s financial authorities for reforms that helped secure Liberia’s recent admission into the Emerald Group of Financial Intelligence.
The forum marks a significant step toward strengthening the region’s ability to manage a rapidly evolving virtual asset landscape, one offering both immense opportunity and serious risk.