Cabinet, at its meeting held in Cape Town this week, welcomed the official removal of South Africa from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) greylist. 

The decision follows the successful completion of all 22 action items by June 2025 and a positive outcome from the FATF’s on-site assessment in July, which confirmed that South Africa’s reforms to strengthen its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing systems are both effective and sustainable.

“Cabinet commended the sterling and coordinated work of the inter-departmental team of National Treasury, State Security Agency, National Prosecuting Authority and Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, for the measures put in place to counter and prosecute terrorism and terror-financing,” Cabinet said in a statement.

Cabinet said the greylisting milestone ends a two-year period of heightened monitoring since the country’s greylisting in 2023. 

“This demonstrates South Africa’s commitment to the rule of law, strengthening key institutions, and improving enforcement and governance processes.

“The de-listing is expected to improve business confidence, strengthen financial systems, reduce the cost of borrowing, contribute to the integrity of our economy,  and increase appetite for more investments and creation of jobs. 

“Furthermore, the de-listing will ease illicit cross-border financial transactions and reinforce South Africa’s reputation as a reliable and compliant player in the international financial system,” Cabinet said. 

The FATF is an intergovernmental organisation and finance watchdog that was established to combat money laundering, terrorist and proliferation financing, as well as other threats to the integrity of the international financial system. 

It sets global standards for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing, promotes the effective implementation of these standards, and conducts mutual evaluations of member countries to assess their compliance with the FATF Recommendations. 

The FATF requires countries that have exited the greylist to demonstrate continued commitment through measurable outcomes, including successful investigations, prosecutions, and sanctions as they relate to Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism – AML/CFT.

These actions will form the basis of the next FATF Mutual Evaluation for South Africa, which is expected to commence in the first half of 2026 and conclude in October 2027.