Pretoria: The National Treasury has welcomed the removal of South Africa from the European Union's list of High-risk Third Country Jurisdictions (EU List). This follows the delisting of South Africa from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) greylist and the United Kingdom's list of countries with high risks for money laundering and terror financing, both of which occurred on October 13, 2025.

According to Nam News Network, the National Treasury noted that the removal from the FATF and EU lists does not signify the resolution of all challenges in implementing South Africa's Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) system. The Treasury acknowledged that significant work remains to address deficiencies in preventing, identifying, investigating, and prosecuting money laundering and terrorism financing.

The European Union recognized the efforts made by South Africa, along with Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Tanzania, in strengthening their AML/CFT systems. The EU noted that these countries have enhanced 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 FATF.

South Africa's addition to the EU List in August 2023 was an automatic consequence of its greylisting by FATF in February 2023. This EU listing, under Article 9(1) of Directive (EU) 2015/849, requires identifying third-country jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in combating money laundering and terrorism financing to protect the EU's internal market.

The National Treasury explained that EU law mandates financial institutions to apply a higher level of scrutiny to transactions involving parties in high-risk countries, resulting in more rigorous checks and increased documentation requirements. These measures add friction to financial transactions, affecting trade, payments, and investment.

The removal of the requirement for EU financial institutions to conduct enhanced due diligence on South African-related transactions does not compel these institutions to change their risk assessment policies toward South Africa. Instead, it permits willing institutions to adjust their policies as they see fit.

South Africa is preparing for a new round of evaluation by FATF, with a final report expected to be presented to the FATF plenary in October 2027. Preparation efforts are underway, incorporating lessons learned and experiences gained during the process to exit the FATF greylist.