South Africa is at risk of being added to the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) ‘grey list’ of countries deemed to have deficient anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) controls. Any grey list designation will come with significant costs for the banking sector, in particular, as the scrutiny of cross-border transactions increases.
The South African government has until October this year to demonstrate to FATF, the global AML/CFT watchdog, that weaknesses in its approach to preventing money laundering and terrorist financing have been addressed, before a final decision is announced in February 2023.
