Algeria Central Bank to Make KYC Rules Mandatory to Tighten Banking Oversight and Boost Transparency
BY Dr. Hana Saada
Algeria’s central bank is preparing to make “Know Your Customer” (KYC) requirements compulsory across all commercial banks, in a regulatory overhaul aimed at modernising the financial system, strengthening transparency and tightening safeguards against money laundering and terrorism financing.
The governor of the Bank of Algeria, Mohamed Lamine Labaoui, said the directive will be issued within days, following the successful rollout of KYC procedures by Algérie Poste. The announcement came during a discussion session in Algiers held alongside the second edition of the CEO Survey at the Abdelatif Rahal International Conference Centre.
The reform forms part of a wider effort to align the banking sector with evolving financing models and accelerate regulatory harmonisation across financial institutions. Under the new framework, banks will be required to apply KYC protocols while accommodating the operational specificities of different categories of economic actors.
Labaoui indicated that the system would introduce a more flexible compliance mechanism for businesses, allowing simplified declarations of projected income and intended use of funds, with the aim of reducing administrative frictions while preserving regulatory control.
He stressed, however, that the reform would be accompanied by strict enforcement of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing provisions, describing compliance as a non-negotiable pillar of financial governance. In this context, he commended Algérie Poste’s progress in updating customer data in line with KYC standards.
At its core, the KYC framework requires financial institutions to verify client identities, monitor transactional behaviour and detect suspicious activity, forming a foundational instrument in contemporary risk-based banking supervision.
On financial inclusion, the governor argued that progress depends on a closer alignment between regulatory frameworks and real economic conditions, adding that digitalisation remains a strategic lever for capturing liquidity circulating outside formal channels.
The reform momentum follows the strong uptake of Algérie Poste’s electronic KYC system via its ECCP platform, which has been welcomed by users for its streamlined interface, speed of execution and accessibility, signalling growing public acceptance of digital banking procedures.
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