Four African countries taken off global money-laundering ‘grey list’

A global money-laundering watchdog has taken South Africa, Nigeria, Mozambique and Burkina Faso off its ‘grey list’ of countries subjected to increased monitoring.

The Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF), a financial crimes watchdog based in France, on Friday said it was removing the four countries after “successful on-site visits” that showed “positive progress” in addressing shortcomings within agreed timeframes.

The FATF maintains ‘grey’ and ‘black’ lists for countries it has identified as not meeting its standards. It considers grey list countries to be those with strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering regimes, but which are nonetheless working with the organisation to address them.

FATF president Elisa de Anda Madrazo calls the removal of the four “a positive story for the continent of Africa”.

South Africa revamped its tools to detect money laundering and terrorist financing, she says, while Nigeria created better coordination between agencies, Mozambique increased its financial intelligence sharing and Burkina Faso improved its oversight of financial institutions.

Nigeria and South Africa were added to the list in 2023, preceded by Mozambique in 2022 and Burkina Faso in 2021.

Officials from the four countries – which will no longer be subject to increased monitoring by the organisation – welcome the decision.

Nigerian president Bola Tinubu says the delisting marked a “major milestone in Nigeria’s journey towards economic reform, institutional integrity and global credibility”, while the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit separately says it had “worked resolutely through a 19-point action plan” to demonstrate its commitment to improvements.

South African Revenue Service commissioner Edward Kieswetter cheers the update but says “removing the designation of grey listing is not a finish line but a milestone on a long-term journey towards building a robust and resilient financial ecosystem.”

Leaders in Mozambique and Burkina Faso did not immediately comment, though Mozambican officials had signalled for several months that they were optimistic about being removed.

In July, finance minister Carla Louveira said Mozambique was “not simply working to get off the grey list, but working so that in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, when the FATF makes its assessment in 2030, it will find a completely different situation from the one detected in 2021,” MZ News reported at the time.

More than 200 countries around the world have pledged to follow the standards of the FATF, which reviews their efforts to combat money laundering, as well as terrorist and weapons financing.

The FATF’s black or ‘high-risk’ list consists of Iran, Myanmar and North Korea.

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