{"id":838696,"date":"2025-09-30T14:37:55","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T12:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=838696"},"modified":"2025-09-30T14:38:01","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T12:38:01","slug":"south-africa-going-from-grey-to-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/838696\/south-africa-going-from-grey-to-green\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa going from grey to green"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa and Nigeria are poised to exit a global financial watchdog\u2019s \u201cgrey list<\/a>\u201d as soon as next month, marking a change in fortune for two of the continent\u2019s biggest economies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two nations were put under heightened scrutiny by the Financial Action Task Force in\u00a0February 2023<\/a>\u00a0for shortcomings in tackling illicit financial flows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assessors from the Paris-based FATF conducted on-site visits in recent weeks and subsequent feedback on the action plans for those countries \u2014 as well as for Burkina Faso and Mozambique \u2014 noted significant progress, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified as the deliberations are private.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All four countries are expected to come off the list on 24 October, the final day of an FATF plenary in the French capital, the people said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No final decisions have been made. Listings are determined based on a consensus among the group\u2019s\u00a0membership<\/a>, which includes the US, UK, European Commission, China, Japan and India.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa and Nigeria exiting the list \u201cwould certainly be good for sentiment,\u201d said Lauren van Biljon, senior portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments UK Ltd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt would be confirmation that the reforms and measures put in place in the wake of the gray listing are both significant and sticky,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The direct market impact may be fairly modest though a short-term lift in asset prices is possible, Van Biljon said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s FTSE\/JSE Banks Index gained after the news, trading 0.2% higher at 12h21 local time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The watchdog\u2019s recommendations are closely tracked by global investors who\u2019re wary of conducting business in places found to be deficient in anti-money laundering regulations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jurisdictions added to the list require closer monitoring, and the designation may cast serious doubt over the integrity of their financial systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 2021 report<\/a> by the International Monetary Fund found gray-listed countries experienced \u201ca large and statistically significant reduction in capital inflows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s National Treasury said it would comment after the FATF makes its decision public next month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also referred Bloomberg to a statement issued in\u00a0July<\/a>\u00a0after the FATF\u2019s on-site visit in which it said South Africa had substantially completed all 22 action items required to be removed from the list.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are excited\u201d about the ramifications of Nigeria being removed from the list, said government spokesman Temitope Ajayi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be \u201ca culmination of the remarkable work the government is doing in fulfilling our global obligations and making Nigeria more attractive to investors,\u201d Ajayi said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mozambique has completed the 26 actions needed to be delisted, said Lu\u00eds Abel Cezerilo, national coordinator for the country\u2019s removal from the gray list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Good Result\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe expect a good result, but we don\u2019t know \u2014 we need to wait,\u201d he said by phone on Monday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country\u2019s removal from the list would come at a crucial time, just as TotalEnergies SE is anticipated to\u00a0resume<\/a>\u00a0its $20 billion natural gas export project, Cezerilo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madi Tapsoba, an official with the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa, said Burkina Faso has implemented all 37 measures needed to exit the list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A finance ministry official and a government spokesman didn\u2019t respond to calls and text messages seeking comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson for the FATF declined to comment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the presidency of Mexican official Elisa de Anda Madrazo, the FATF has\u00a0revamped<\/a>\u00a0its gray-listing criteria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has placed a greater emphasis on scrutinizing the body\u2019s wealthiest members, while putting less of a focus on jurisdictions classified as\u00a0least-developed countries<\/a>, which typically pose a lower systemic risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from setting standards on countering money laundering and terrorist financing, the group also conducts research to inform best practices on emerging issues, from virtual assets<\/a> to sextortion<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa and Nigeria are poised to exit a global financial watchdog\u2019s \u201cgrey list\u201d as soon as next month, marking a change in fortune for two of the continent\u2019s biggest economies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":834070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[20139,19457],"class_list":["post-838696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-fatf","tag-grey-list"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838696"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":838699,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838696\/revisions\/838699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}