Four African Nations Removed from FATF Money-Laundering “Grey List”

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Four African countries—South Africa, Nigeria, Mozambique, and Burkina Faso—have been removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “grey list” for increased monitoring, signaling improvements in their anti-money-laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist-financing (CTF) regimes. This follows a greater FATF emphasis on wealthier jurisdictions, with less-developed countries deemed to pose a lower risk.

Over 200 countries have committed to FATF standards to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and weapons proliferation.

Burkina Faso was added to the grey list in 2021, Mozambique in 2022, and both Nigeria and South Africa—two of Africa’s largest economies—in 2023. The delisting means they will no longer be subject to the increased monitoring associated with grey-list status.

According to the FATF, a grey list designation denotes countries that are “actively working with the FATF to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing.” 

The organization highlighted successful on-site reviews in the four countries, finding “positive progress” within agreed timelines.

In terms of specific improvements, South Africa has significantly upgraded its money-laundering and terrorist-financing detection capabilities, Nigeria has strengthened inter-agency activity, Mozambique has enhanced its financial intelligence sharing, and Burkina Faso has improved its financial institution monitoring.

Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, said in a message reported by Bloomberg that the move will “ease cross-border transactions, improve capital flows, including foreign direct investment, and strengthen the foundations for rapid and sustainable economic growth and job creation”. 

South African Revenue Service commissioner, Edward Kieswetter, meanwhile said that being removed from the grey list is “not a finish line but a milestone on a long-term journey toward building a robust and resilient financial ecosystem.”