A global financial crime watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has removed four African countries — South Africa, Nigeria, Mozambique and Burkina Faso — from its “grey list” of nations under increased monitoring for illicit financial flows.

The announcement was made on Friday at the conclusion of FATF’s plenary session in Paris.

South Africa and Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa’s two largest economies, were added to the grey list in 2023, followed by Mozambique in 2022 and Burkina Faso in 2021. Grey-listing signals that a country is considered to have deficiencies in combating money laundering and terrorist financing, although it has committed to addressing them under FATF supervision.

Analysts say exiting the grey list marks a significant boost for investor confidence and could lead to faster cross-border transactions, reduce compliance burdens for financial institutions and improve access to international capital.

In its statement, FATF acknowledged that all four countries had made significant progress in strengthening their financial regulatory frameworks:

  • South Africa was praised for sharpening its tools to detect money laundering and terrorist financing.
  • Nigeria was commended for reinforcing inter-agency coordination to track illicit financial flows.
  • Mozambique showed progress in improving financial intelligence sharing.
  • Burkina Faso enhanced its oversight of financial institutions and other gatekeepers in the financial system.