FATF Removes South Africa, Nigeria, Mozambique and Burkina Faso from ‘Grey List’

Sub-Saharan Africa’s two largest economies, South Africa and Nigeria, were delisted Friday from a global watchdog’s roster of jurisdictions under increased monitoring for illicit money flows, alongside Mozambique and Burkina Faso.

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which sets international standards for fighting money laundering and terrorist financing, had included South Africa and Nigeria on its list of jurisdictions requiring increased scrutiny since 2023, while Mozambique was grey-listed in 2022 and Burkina Faso in 2021, according to a Reuters report.

At a press conference cited by the news outlet, FATF President Elisa de Anda Madrazo called the decisions “a positive story for the continent of Africa,” saying the body seeks at each plenary “to make the world’s defense against criminals stronger.”

FATF cited stronger tools in South Africa to detect money laundering and terrorist financing, improved inter-agency coordination in Nigeria, better financial intelligence sharing in Mozambique, and enhanced oversight of financial institutions and professional “gatekeepers” in Burkina Faso.

Economists said removal could ease capital frictions and trim borrowing costs for companies and households.

Banks are likely to expand correspondent services and smooth trade-finance operations as other jurisdictions mirror FATF’s decisions, Vincent Gaudel, a financial-crime compliance expert at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, told Reuters.