South Africa Removed from EU High-Risk List
TDS - 14 January 2026
The South African National Treasury has welcomed South Africa’s removal from the European Union’s list of High-Risk Third Country Jurisdictions, marking another significant milestone in the country’s efforts to strengthen its financial regulatory framework.
The delisting follows South Africa’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) greylist, officially known as the list of countries under increased monitoring, as well as from the United Kingdom’s list of high-risk jurisdictions for money laundering and terrorism financing. Both delistings took effect on 13 October 2025.
While acknowledging the positive development, National Treasury cautioned that the removal from the FATF and EU high-risk lists does not imply that all challenges within South Africa’s Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) system have been resolved.
“Much work still needs to be done to strengthen deficiencies in the prevention, identification, investigation and prosecution of money laundering and terrorism financing,” Treasury noted in a statement issued on Tuesday.
The European Union, in announcing its decision, recognised the progress made by South Africa alongside five other African countries in strengthening the effectiveness of their AML/CFT regimes.
“Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania have strengthened the effectiveness of their AML/CFT regimes and addressed technical deficiencies to meet the commitments in their action plans on the strategic deficiencies identified by the FATF,” the European Commission stated. It further confirmed that these countries no longer present strategic deficiencies in their AML/CFT systems.
South Africa was added to the EU high-risk list in August 2023 as an automatic consequence of its FATF greylisting in February of that year. The EU listing was implemented in terms of Article 9(1) of Directive (EU) 2015/849, which requires the identification of third-country jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in their frameworks for combating money laundering and terrorism financing, in order to safeguard the integrity of the EU’s internal market.
As a result of the listing, EU financial institutions were legally required to apply enhanced due diligence to transactions involving South African entities. These measures included increased documentation requirements, continuous monitoring, senior management approval and more intrusive compliance checks. Treasury noted that such requirements introduced friction into financial transactions, with direct implications for trade, payments and investment flows.
The removal of South Africa from the EU list eliminates the legislative obligation on EU financial institutions to apply enhanced due diligence to South Africa-related transactions. However, Treasury emphasised that this does not compel financial institutions to change their internal risk assessment policies. Rather, it allows those institutions willing to do so to reassess South Africa’s risk profile based on their own evaluations.
Looking ahead, South Africa will enter a new round of FATF evaluations in the coming months, with a final report scheduled for presentation to the FATF plenary in October 2027. According to Treasury, preparations for this process are already underway, drawing on the lessons learned during the country’s exit from greylisting.
The latest development is expected to improve investor sentiment and ease financial engagement with European counterparts, while reinforcing the importance of sustained reform and vigilance within South Africa’s financial system.