A greylisted country is a jurisdiction that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has placed under increased monitoring because of weaknesses in how it fights money laundering, terrorist financing, or the financing of weapons proliferation. As of the FATF’s February 2026 plenary, 22 jurisdictions sit on this list.1Financial Action Task Force. Jurisdictions Under Increased Monitoring – 13 February 2026 The label doesn’t trigger mandatory sanctions, but it raises the cost and friction of international business with the country and puts its government on a public timeline to fix specific gaps.
Which Countries Are Currently Greylisted
As of February 2026, the 22 jurisdictions under increased monitoring are Algeria, Angola, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Monaco, Namibia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Vietnam, the British Virgin Islands, and Yemen.1Financial Action Task Force. Jurisdictions Under Increased Monitoring – 13 February 2026
The list shifts regularly. The FATF updates it three times a year, in February, June, and October. In October 2025, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Nigeria, and South Africa were removed after completing their action plans.2Financial Action Task Force. Outcomes FATF Plenary, 22-24 October 2025 Barbados, Gibraltar, Uganda, and the United Arab Emirates were delisted in February 2024.3Financial Action Task Force. Outcomes FATF Plenary, 19-23 February 2024 New countries get added as mutual evaluations turn up shortcomings, so the composition changes at most plenary sessions.
Greylist vs. Blacklist
The FATF publishes two separate lists, and they are often confused. The greylist, formally “Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring,” names countries that have committed to fixing their deficiencies and are working with the FATF on reforms. The blacklist, formally “High-Risk Jurisdictions subject to a Call for Action,” is reserved for countries with severe, persistent failures where the FATF calls on all nations to apply countermeasures.4Financial Action Task Force. Black and Grey Lists
The practical gap between the two is wide. Greylisted countries face increased scrutiny and reputational damage, but the FATF does not call for countermeasures against them. Only three jurisdictions sit on the blacklist as of February 2026: North Korea, Iran, and Myanmar.5Financial Action Task Force. High-Risk Jurisdictions Subject to a Call for Action – 13 February 2026 Everything below concerns the greylist.
Why a Country Gets Greylisted
Greylisting follows a mutual evaluation, a peer review conducted by experts from FATF member countries. The reviewers assess both the laws on the books and whether those laws work in practice, so a country with strong legislation but weak enforcement can score just as poorly as one that lacks the legislation entirely.6Financial Action Task Force. Mutual Evaluations Findings are measured against the FATF’s 40 Recommendations, which cover matters ranging from beneficial ownership transparency to whether law enforcement can freeze assets linked to terrorism or organized crime.7Financial Action Task Force. FATF Recommendations
Common weaknesses that push a country toward greylisting include an inability to identify who really owns companies and trusts, weak suspicious transaction reporting, the absence of a functioning financial intelligence unit, slow or ineffective asset freezing, and poor cooperation with foreign investigators. Countries with poor evaluations enter an International Cooperation Review Group process. If progress remains insufficient, the FATF develops a tailored action plan with the government and places the jurisdiction under increased monitoring.8Financial Action Task Force. High-Risk and Other Monitored Jurisdictions
Economic Impact on a Greylisted Country
The economic effects are measurable. An IMF working paper found that capital inflows to greylisted countries dropped by an average of 7.6 percent of GDP. Foreign direct investment fell roughly 3 percent, and portfolio investment fell another 2.9 percent. Separate research found that cross-border payments to greylisted countries dropped by 7 to 10 percent.9International Monetary Fund. The Impact of Gray-Listing on Capital Flows: An Analysis Using Machine Learning
Those numbers turn into concrete harm. International lenders grow cautious about extending credit to banks in the greylisted country. Foreign investors delay or cancel projects. Remittances from workers overseas can get more expensive as intermediary banks add compliance surcharges or drop correspondent relationships. Even when greylisting doesn’t legally require anyone to stop doing business with a country, the signal alone tends to spook risk-averse institutions, and many banks and investment funds will simply avoid a flagged jurisdiction rather than absorb the compliance cost.
How Greylisting Changes International Transactions
Global banks handle money to and from a greylisted country differently. In the United States, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) advises financial institutions to apply enhanced due diligence to correspondent accounts with banks in FATF-flagged jurisdictions.10Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Financial Action Task Force Identifies Jurisdictions With Anti-Money Laundering Deficiencies Federal law requires covered financial institutions to maintain risk-based programs for correspondent accounts with foreign banks, including enhanced controls to detect suspicious activity.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 31 – 5318
In practice, enhanced due diligence means more paperwork, more questions, and slower processing. Banks may require detailed documentation about the source of funds, the purpose of the transaction, and the identities of all parties involved. Wire transfers that would normally clear within hours can take days.
De-Risking and Lost Banking Access
The bigger threat is often not slower transactions but losing access to the global banking system entirely. De-risking happens when international banks decide that maintaining relationships with institutions in a flagged jurisdiction isn’t worth the compliance cost, and terminate the relationship rather than invest in enhanced monitoring. The FATF has said this “can result in financial exclusion, less transparency and greater exposure to money laundering and terrorist financing risks.”12Financial Action Task Force. Guidance on Correspondent Banking When a country loses correspondent banking relationships, its local banks can no longer process international payments through major clearing networks, forcing transactions through longer intermediary chains or into informal channels.
What It Means for Individuals and Businesses
If you hold a passport from a greylisted country or run a business registered there, you may face additional screening when opening bank accounts abroad, applying for loans from international institutions, or sending and receiving wire transfers. Correspondent banks may ask your bank for extra information before processing payments. Transactions generally aren’t blocked outright, but delays, documentation requirements, and higher fees accumulate.
How a Country Gets Off the Greylist
Removal requires completing every item in the action plan and demonstrating that the reforms are operating in practice, not only enacted on paper. The action plan is tailored to each country’s specific deficiencies: a nation with weak beneficial ownership rules will have different milestones than one struggling with terrorist financing enforcement. Typical requirements include updating penalties for money laundering, building or strengthening a financial intelligence unit, creating a centralized registry of company ownership information, and improving cooperation with foreign investigations.
Once a country believes it has met its commitments, the FATF sends a technical review team on an on-site visit. The team interviews regulators, prosecutors, and law enforcement to confirm that the new systems are working and that the country is actively investigating and prosecuting financial crimes.3Financial Action Task Force. Outcomes FATF Plenary, 19-23 February 2024 The findings then go to the FATF Plenary, which meets three times a year and decides whether the country has done enough to be delisted. Successful delistings are announced through a public statement.4Financial Action Task Force. Black and Grey Lists
Countries typically stay on the greylist for roughly two to three years, though this varies widely. Some move faster by pouring political and financial resources into reform; others linger because the required changes involve deeply structural issues like judicial independence or institutional capacity. Delisting sends a strong signal to global markets: banks that had pulled back tend to re-engage, correspondent banking relationships get restored, and compliance surcharges ease. The October 2025 removals of Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Nigeria, and South Africa each followed this pattern.2Financial Action Task Force. Outcomes FATF Plenary, 22-24 October 2025 Removal isn’t permanent immunity, though. Delisted countries remain subject to follow-up monitoring, and a future mutual evaluation that reveals backsliding can restart the process.