On the 7th of December 2020, Uganda assumed the Presidency of the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG). Uganda took over the Presidency from the Kingdom of Eswatini at the 20th Council of Ministers’ Meeting which was held virtually due to the prevailing challenges occasioned by the COVID 19 pandemic. Hon. Matia Kasaija, the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development is the new President of the Council of Ministers, and will hold the Presidency for one year.

The FIA has recently reiterated that investment funds and asset managers subject to the AMLA in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF), as amended 2019 (the AML Law) and should thus be registered on “goAML” to submit suspicious and large cash transaction reports.

From Monday 16th November 2020 to Wednesday 18th November 2020, the FIA hosted the Head of IT of the Somalia Financial Reporting Centre (FRC) Engineer Ahmed Said at the FIA offices to provide technical support and guidance on various areas of operation of FIUs.

In 2019, Uganda became the second country in East Africa after Tanzania to launch a new reporting platform developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to curb organized crimes. Uganda’s Financial Intelligence Unit launched the new anti-money laundering platform 'goAML’, which has been open for registration since July 2019.

The Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) has commenced the National ID Card verification exercise as one of the activities emanating from the MOU between the FIA and NIRA, the National Identification and Registration Authority. Machines that make it possible to read details technologically encrypted on Uganda’s National IDs were handed over to the Financial Intelligence Authority by NIRA officials, a move expected to ensure accuracy of data captured with regards to the designated goAML platform Web Users.