The 48th largest country globally and the 29th most populous, Kenya has the sixth largest economy in Africa and the largest in East Africa – and, although affected by COVID-19, the World Bank expects it to experience one of the stronger post-pandemic growth rebounds in the region. Yet endemic corruption, the widespread use of cash and transfer payment systems, and the existence of Mombasa Port as a major trafficking hub create money laundering and terrorist financing risks for the country, heightened by the activity of Somali terror group Al-Shabaab in Kenya and across the border.
Human, weapons and drugs trafficking, alongside fraud, bribery and corruption, cybercrime and environmental crime also represent a palpable risk to which companies operating in or with Kenya can be exposed. For more detail, consult our country risk report, which examines Kenya’s legal and regulatory approach to financial crime and analyses the nature of financial crime threats that arise from the country’s political and economic landscape.