South Africa has officially been removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) increased monitoring list, commonly known as the “grey list,” marking a significant milestone in the country’s ongoing fight against money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. The announcement came on October 24, 2025, at the conclusion of the FATF Plenary held in Paris from October 20 to 24, 2025, almost 32 months after South Africa was placed on the grey list in February 2023.
The FATF is a global standard-setting body that monitors countries for weaknesses in their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regimes. Being on the grey list indicates that a country has deficiencies posing risks to the international financial system and requires increased monitoring and remediation efforts.
Background and Process Leading to Delisting
South Africa was grey-listed following a 2019 mutual evaluation by FATF that identified significant deficiencies in the country’s frameworks to combat financial crime. The grey-list status triggered a comprehensive national response involving multiple sectors, including government agencies, the private sector, and civil society.
Over the past 32 months, South Africa committed to addressing 22 critical action items laid out in a detailed FATF Action Plan. This involved strengthening regulatory and supervisory frameworks, enhancing the capacity to detect and prevent illicit financial flows, and improving compliance across financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs). A notable component of the reforms was improving the supervisory capability under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FIC Act) through risk-based approaches and analytical tools for compliance monitoring.
An on-site FATF assessment visit conducted at the end of July 2025 validated the progress South Africa had made in implementing sustainable reforms. The country’s leadership, including Deputy Minister of Finance Dr. David Masondo and Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Mr. Andries Nel, provided robust assurances to FATF of the government’s continued political commitment to maintaining and advancing South Africa’s AML/CFT frameworks.
Statements from Key Stakeholders
The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) acting director, Pieter Smit, hailed the removal from the grey list as an important milestone, emphasizing that while the task was challenging, it marked a critical evolution in South Africa’s financial crime prevention regime. He praised the collaborative effort of government, private sector, and civil society to fight financial crime and noted that this achievement laid the foundation for the next phase of strengthening the regime.
SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter also welcomed the delisting and acknowledged that grey-list status was a consequence of systemic weaknesses, exacerbated during the state capture era. He highlighted that removal from the grey list is a milestone rather than the end of the journey and reiterated the importance of continued vigilance to build a resilient financial ecosystem. SARS played a crucial role in meeting the FATF’s requirements, focusing on ensuring financial integrity and compliance with the 22 action items.
The National Treasury issued a statement affirming that the government’s efforts to tighten financial protocols to global standards had been instrumental in achieving this outcome. The Treasury emphasized that while delisting would not instantly restore full international trust, it positioned South Africa on a path of sustainable reform and improved financial system integrity. The government expressed commitment to ongoing partnership with FATF and international bodies to preserve this progress.
The Banking Association of South Africa (BASA) also celebrated the removal, underscoring the positive impact on investment climate and economic growth. They acknowledged the efforts of both public and private sectors in meeting international standards and restoring confidence in the South African financial system.
Implications and Outlook
South Africa’s delisting from the FATF grey list is a positive signal to international investors, banks, financial institutions, and regulatory bodies that the country has addressed critical vulnerabilities in its AML/CFT framework. This development can help alleviate some of the financial and reputational risks associated with grey-listing, such as increased transaction scrutiny, higher compliance costs, and reduced access to correspondent banking relationships.
However, experts and stakeholders caution that the lifting of grey-list status does not immediately erase the caution exercised by international financial institutions. Trust and confidence must be rebuilt over time through sustained compliance, transparent operations, and continued improvements in financial crime detection and prevention measures.
South Africa now prepares for its upcoming mutual evaluation, which will further assess the country’s AML/CFT regime and its effectiveness in practice. The lessons learned from this process are expected to continue shaping policies and enforcement actions to strengthen the financial system’s resilience to illicit activities.
Broader Context: African Countries Exiting the Grey List
Alongside South Africa, other African countries including Nigeria, Mozambique, and Burkina Faso were also removed from the FATF grey list during the same plenary session. These countries have each made significant improvements in areas like financial intelligence sharing, inter-agency coordination, and regulatory oversight of financial institutions and gatekeepers, contributing collectively to a stronger continent-wide financial crime mitigation landscape.