Rebuilding South Africa’s financial reputation post-grey list removal

SOUTH Africa's recent removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and European Union's (EU) grey list was rightly met with both relief and some pride.

- DEAN JENNISON

SOUTH Africa's recent removal from the Financial Action Task Force and European Union's grey list was rightly met with both relief and some pride, says the author.

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It signals that, after two years of intense scrutiny and reform, South Africa has made tangible progress in strengthening its guardrails to counter terrorist financing, and combat fraud and money laundering.

But, as significant as this is, it’s only the end of the beginning. South Africas real financial reputation test starts now as the global system that judged us moves into a much stricter era.

The FATF may have cleared South Africa, but its scrutiny will continue into 2026 and 2027 to ensure that the actions taken deliver measurable outcomes and enforcement. Heavier paperwork, slow processing, heightened scrutiny and even disrupted payment flows will continue to impact deals.

Combined with the EU’s sweeping new anti-money laundering reforms, and it’s clear that the map of financial supervision is being rapidly redrawn. For countries like South Africa, that means even deeper scrutiny, and fewer excuses.