Eiseb to spearhead the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing
The Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting the Financing of Terrorist and Proliferation Council this week announced the appointment of Mr. Bryan Eiseb as the new Director of the Financial Intelligence Center (FIC) effective 1 January 2024.
The position of the FIC Director has been vacant since the appointment of Ms. Leonie Dunn, who was appointed the second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Namibia in January 2022.
The appointment of Eiseb was made by the Financial Intelligence Act 13 of 2012, and he thus becomes the second Director of the FIC since its establishment in 2007.
The FIC is the national center responsible for executing, amongst others Financial Intelligence Unit and Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting the Financing of Terrorist and Proliferation Funding (AML/CFT/CPF) prevention and combatting functions.
As per the Financial Intelligence Act, 2023 (FIA), the primary responsibility of the FIC is to maintain the integrity of the Namibian financial system by preventing abuse of the system for Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Proliferation Financing (ML/TF/PF) activities. By ensuring the successful execution of this mandate, the FIC contributes to the integrity and stability of the financial system.
According to the FIC in a statement, Eiseb has joined the centre at a most critical time following the 2022 Financial Action Task Force Mutual Evaluation.
“As per expectations, Namibia is required to, going forward, demonstrate its ability to prevent and combat ML/TF/PF effectively. This will be demonstrated by the number of successful investigations and prosecutions of those that commit high-risk ML/TF/PF and other profit-generating crimes,” the FIC added.
As the Head of the FIC, Eiseb will play a pivotal role in driving and coordinating the success of this new regime and future-proofing the FIC to meet the demands placed on it by Namibia’s overhauled AML/CFT/CPF regime and expectations driven by the dynamic operating environment.
Eiseb’s extensive experience in law enforcement coupled with his experience and extensive network within the criminal justice system, combined with his past role as Director of Exchange Control and Legal Services in the Bank of Namibia, make him the ideal candidate to head Namibia’s financial intelligence unit.
Eiseb holds an LLM (Corporate Law) from UNISA, LLB (Hons), and B. Juris from UNAM and a National Diploma in Police Science from the Polytechnic of Namibia. He also holds various executive development certifications and is an admitted attorney of the High Court of Namibia.
He is currently on secondment to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, which will conclude in November.
