The Malawi Government has introduced new rules that will enable commercial banks and other financial institutions to use simpler customer checks to help fight money laundering and terrorism financing.
The new rules called Simplified Due Diligence (SDD) were published in the Malawi Government Gazette supplement, a publication of official government notices, on August 21 2026, replacing previous rules introduced in 2018.
Under the new rules, banks can apply SDD to customers using bank accounts or electronic money wallets where their monthly income or withdrawals do not exceed about K1 million.
Reads part of the notice: “A reporting institution may apply simplified due diligence on real estate transactions involving buying and selling of not more than K5 million, any other customers whose monthly income or withdrawals do not exceed K500 000 and social protection programmes.”
In separate interviews this week, Bankers Association of Malawi (BAM) and Institute of Chartered Accountants in Malawi (Icam) said the new thresholds should not be interpreted as deregulation, but a way of making anti-money laundering and financing of terrorism controls more targeted, proportionate and risk-sensitive.
BAM president Philip Madinga said that by raising the SDD threshold, banks can allocate more analytical resources to high-value and high-risk segments where money laundering and terrorism financing risks are greater.
He said: “The new thresholds enable banks to focus resources where the risk is highest. Banks can do reduced know your customer for accounts below K1 million per month.
“This frees up compliance teams, systems and time to conduct enhanced due diligence.”
But Madinga, who is Standard Bank plc chief executive, warned that raising thresholds does not mean no monitoring, saying all transactions, regardless of value are still monitored by their systems while they remain alert to “structuring” where criminals can split transactions to stay below the K1 million threshold.
Icam president Daniel Jere said the new rules are about making the fight against financial crimes more focused.
“The new thresholds aim to strengthen a risk-based approach, making due diligence more proportionate and practical. They simplify compliance,” he said.
Jere warned that criminals can also use small transactions to hide illegal money, adding that some criminals can structure illicit funds into smaller transactions, .
Under the new rules, other financial services have also been given their own limits.
For example, SDD can apply to life insurance customers paying premiums of about K200 000 a month, deposit-taking microfinance customers with monthly income or withdrawals of up to K750 000 and voluntary pension schemes with monthly contributions of up to K700 000.
