South Africa is increasingly making progress in being seen as an investment destination that is safe and run according to financial legislation.
The good news that South Africa was removed from the Financial Action Task Force greylist late last year has now been followed by more news that the country has now also been removed from the European Union’s list of High-Risk Third Country Jurisdictions.
South Africa was delisted from the Financial Action Task Team (FATF) greylist for countries under increased monitoring and the UK’s list of countries with a high risk for money laundering and terror financing on 13 October 2025.
The National Treasury welcomed the news in a statement, adding that it also welcomes the removal of five other African countries, namely Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria and Tanzania from the EU list after they were also removed from the FATF greylist in 2025.
The decision to remove South Africa and other African countries from the European Union list was published on 9 January and will take effect on 29 January 2026.
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SA added to European list in tandem with FATF greylist
According to the Treasury, South Africa was added to the EU list in August 2023 as an automatic consequence of its greylisting by the FATF in February 2023. The EU listing was done in terms of Article 9(1) of Directive (EU) 2015/849, which requires that third-country jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in their systems for combating money laundering and terrorism financing must be identified to protect the proper functioning of the EU’s internal market.
This EU law requires that financial institutions in the EU must apply a higher level of scrutiny to transactions involving parties in countries deemed to be high-risk, resulting in more rigorous and intrusive checks, increased documentation requirements, continuous monitoring and senior management approval for transactions.
The Treasury says these requirements add friction to financial transactions and flows, affecting trade, payments and investment.
The European Union said it acknowledges the efforts South Africa and the other five African countries made in strengthening their anti-money laundering and curtailing of terrorism financing.
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Four other African countries also delisted from FATF and EU
The EU noted that Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania strengthened the effectiveness of their regimes and addressed technical deficiencies to meet the commitments in their action plans on the strategic deficiencies the FATF identified.
“The xommission therefore considers that Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania no longer have strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and curtailing of terrorism financing regimes.”
According to the Treasury it should be noted that the removal of legislative obligations on EU financial institutions to conduct enhanced due diligence on South African-related transactions does not compel any financial institutions to rescind their risk assessment policies towards South Africa but allows willing EU financial institutions to adjust their risk assessment policies as they see fit.
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Delisting does not mean South Africa is completely out of the woods with FATF and EU
In addition, the Treasury notes that removal from the FATF and EU lists of high-risk jurisdictions does not mean that all South Africa’s challenges in implementing its AML/CFT system have been resolved and recognises that much work still needs to be done to strengthen deficiencies in the prevention, identification, investigation and prosecution of money laundering and terrorism financing.
South Africa will enter a new round of FATF evaluation in the coming months, with a final report scheduled to be presented to the FATF plenary in October 2027.
The Treasury says preparation has begun in earnest, incorporating the lessons learned and experience gained during the process to exit the FATF greylisting.
