The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has updated its grey list, reshaping the compliance landscape for several jurisdictions as it continues to enforce global standards in anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT).
Napier AI, a provider of a next generation intelligent compliance platform, recently delved into the updates and what they mean.
The FATF plays a central role in maintaining the integrity of the financial system by identifying countries with shortcomings in AML and CFT frameworks. When a jurisdiction is placed on the grey list, it indicates strategic deficiencies in its systems and signals that the country is under increased monitoring while working to resolve issues within agreed timelines. These nations face reputational harm and increased scrutiny from the global financial community.
Meanwhile, the black list is reserved for countries with significant and persistent compliance failures, requiring FATF members to implement enhanced due diligence and, in some cases, countermeasures on transactions linked to these high-risk jurisdictions.
In its latest update on 13 June 2025, the FATF announced that Bolivia and the British Virgin Islands (BVI) have been added to the grey list, reflecting shortcomings identified during recent evaluations of their AML/CFT regimes. In contrast, Croatia, Mali and Tanzania have been removed from the list after demonstrating sufficient progress and completing their action plans, confirmed by on-site evaluations.
The FATF’s black list remains unchanged, with North Korea, Iran and Myanmar still categorised as high-risk jurisdictions requiring the application of countermeasures.
Countries newly placed under increased monitoring are expected to continue working with FATF or their regional bodies to close critical compliance gaps, it said. These jurisdictions follow tailored action plans with set timelines while FATF encourages members to apply a balanced risk-based approach, ensuring legitimate financial activities, such as remittances and humanitarian aid, are not disrupted.
In Bolivia’s case, the FATF’s January 2025 report noted improvements in risk understanding, financial intelligence and asset seizure efforts. However, Bolivia still needs to enhance the use of special investigative techniques for money laundering cases, improve supervision of high-risk non-financial sectors, ensure accurate beneficial ownership data with enforceable sanctions, and scale up prosecutions aligned with its national risk profile to secure removal from the grey list, Napier AI explained.
The BVI, since its Mutual Evaluation Report in November 2023, has strengthened its international cooperation efforts and developed a counter-terrorist financing strategy. It has conducted a targeted risk assessment of its non-profit sector and increased outreach to financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses, it said.
The BVI’s next phase under FATF monitoring will focus on enhancing supervision of higher-risk entities such as TCSPs, investment businesses and VASPs, improving beneficial ownership data accuracy, increasing suspicious activity report quality, scaling up investigations, and advancing asset confiscation frameworks.
The FATF’s monitoring process is designed not to punish but to assist countries in addressing systemic gaps that could undermine the global financial system. The recent removal of Croatia, Mali and Tanzania underscores the benefits of persistent and meaningful reforms, with these nations now enjoying enhanced reputations, better access to international financial systems, and improved investor confidence.
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