South Africa’s ANC welcomes the EU decision to remove the country from its high-risk list, calling it a vote of confidence in financial and governance reforms.
South Africa’s governing African National Congress (ANC) has hailed the European Union’s decision to remove the country from its list of “high‑risk third country jurisdictions”, calling it an important vote of confidence in the state’s financial and governance reforms. The move eases onerous compliance requirements on transactions between South African and EU institutions and is expected to boost investor sentiment at a sensitive moment for the economy.
The European Union formally confirmed that South Africa will be taken off its high‑risk list later in January, following a regulatory process that assessed improvements in the country’s anti‑money‑laundering and counter‑terrorist financing framework. South Africa had been placed on the EU list in 2023 as a knock‑on effect of its greylisting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which flagged weaknesses in supervision, enforcement and prosecution of financial crimes.
National Treasury announced the EU’s decision in a statement, noting that the delisting follows South Africa’s removal from the FATF grey list in 2025 and from the United Kingdom’s own high‑risk list. The EU’s updated regulation was published on 9 January 2026 and is scheduled to take effect on 29 January, after which EU‑based banks will no longer be required to apply the most stringent “enhanced due diligence” to South African‑linked transactions.
The ANC leadership quickly embraced the development, framing it as recognition of the government’s efforts to tighten financial oversight and tackle systemic corruption. In a brief statement on social media, the party said it “welcomes the removal of South Africa from the European Union’s list of high‑risk third country jurisdictions”, describing the step as a positive signal to global markets.
National Treasury, which has coordinated the technical work with regulators, law‑enforcement agencies and Parliament, emphasised that progress was the result of cooperation across government and with the private sector. European institutions, including the European Commission, played a central role in the assessment that South Africa has “strengthened the effectiveness” of its anti‑money‑laundering and counter‑terrorism financing regimes and addressed outstanding technical deficiencies.
Being on the EU’s high‑risk list meant that European financial institutions had to subject South African transactions to intense scrutiny, extra documentation and ongoing monitoring, often delaying payments and driving up compliance costs. Those measures discouraged some cross‑border deals and acted as a brake on trade, investment and the ability of South African firms to raise finance in Europe.
With the delisting, banks and investors are expected to face fewer procedural hurdles, which could support capital inflows at a time when growth is weak and domestic confidence is fragile. Analysts argue that the decision sends a broader signal that South Africa is slowly rebuilding credibility after years of state capture scandals, governance failures and deteriorating institutions.
South Africa’s troubles began when FATF placed the country on its grey list in 2023 after a damning review of its ability to detect, investigate and prosecute money‑laundering and terror‑financing offences. The EU list is closely aligned with FATF’s assessments, so greylisting triggered an automatic designation as a high‑risk jurisdiction for European purposes.
In response, the government pushed through a raft of legislative reforms, strengthened the Financial Intelligence Centre’s powers, and sought to improve coordination between the police, prosecutors and regulators. By late 2025, FATF determined that South Africa had made sufficient progress to exit the grey list, paving the way for the EU and the UK to ease their own risk classifications.
Treasury has cautioned that delisting is not the end of the reform journey, acknowledging that “deficiencies in the prevention, identification, investigation and prosecution of money laundering and terrorism financing” still need to be addressed. Governance watchdogs and business groups have echoed that view, welcoming the decision but warning that sustained political will is essential to convert regulatory changes into consistent enforcement.
For ordinary South Africans, the change will not be felt overnight, but its effects are likely to surface in the form of smoother international payments, improved perceptions of local banks. With uncertainty still hanging over South Africa’s continued access to US trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, closer and less encumbered financial ties with Europe could become even more important to the country’s economic prospects.
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