FATF says SA has made significant progress in improving money laundering & terrorist financing framework

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) says South Africa has made significant progress in improving its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework.

This follows the country’s delisting from the global financial crime watchdog’s notorious greylist on Friday.

The FATF wrapped up its plenary and working group meetings in Paris, where it updated its list, issuing a new 13-page report.

The latest outcomes saw a record four countries being removed from the greylist, including Burkina Faso, Mozambique and Nigeria.

In 2019, South Africa was red-flagged by the FATF.

State capture, money laundering risks, law enforcement, inadequate records and monitoring of beneficial ownership and judicial capacity were cited as the main areas requiring corrective action.

The FATF submitted a follow-up report in October 2021, supplementing the 2019 report, and included 12 shortcomings.

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At the time, the watchdog concluded that the country’s current legal framework was incapable of addressing the scope of risks within the FATF mandate.

At a FATF plenary meeting in February 2023, unaddressed weaknesses landed South Africa on the grey list.

The global watchdog now says, among other things, SA has shown a sustained increase in investigations and prosecutions of serious and complex money laundering cases.

"This plenary has been positive, a very positive story for the continent of Africa," said FATF president, Elisa de Anda Madrazo.

Yemen, Syria, and South Sudan are part of the 20 jurisdictions that remain on the greylist.