The decision to remove South Africa and these other African countries from the EU list was published on January 9 and will take effect on January 29, Treasury says.

This follows the delisting of South Africa from the anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism intergovernmental organisation Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey-list, which is the list of countries under increased monitoring, and the UK’s list of countries in which there is a high risk for money laundering and terror financing, both of which happened on October 13, 2025.

However, Treasury notes that removal from the FATF and EU lists of high-risk jurisdictions does not mean that all South Africa’s challenges have been resolved in implementing its anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism system.

Treasury 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.

Therefore, South Africa will be entering a new round of evaluation by the FATF in the coming months, with a final report scheduled to be presented to the FATF plenary in October 2027. Preparation has begun, and incorporates the lessons learned and experience gained during the process to exit the FATF grey-listing, Treasury says.

South Africa was added to the EU list in August 2023 as an automatic consequence of its grey-listing by the FATF in February 2023.

The EU listing, which requires that third-country jurisdictions that have strategic deficiencies in their systems for combating money laundering and terrorism financing, or high-risk third countries, must be identified to protect the proper functioning of the EU’s internal market, Treasury notes.

The EU Directive 2015/849 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, or requiring enhanced due diligence, resulting in more rigorous and intrusive checks, increased documentation requirements, continuous monitoring and senior management approval for transactions.

These requirements add friction to financial transactions and flows, thereby affecting trade, payments and investment.

Additionally, the EU acknowledges the efforts made by South Africa and the other five African countries in strengthening their anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism systems.

“Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania have strengthened the effectiveness of their anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism regimes, and have addressed technical deficiencies to meet the commitments in their action plans on the strategic deficiencies identified by the FATF,” the EU Commission stated.

“The [EU] Commission therefore considers that Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania no longer have strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism regimes,” the EU Commission said.

However, the removal of legislative obligations on EU financial institutions to conduct enhanced due diligence on South Africa-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, Treasury points out. Creamer Media Engineering News