The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said on Friday it had removed Bulgaria, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Monaco from its “grey list” of jurisdictions under increased monitoring for money laundering and terrorist financing.
The watchdog, which sets global standards against illicit finance, said the four countries had made positive progress in tackling the strategic weaknesses identified in their evaluations. Removal from the list ends the extra FATF monitoring that accompanies an agreed action plan, a status that can weigh on a country’s reputation with banks and investors even though the list itself is not a sanctions regime.
Vietnam, by contrast, stays on the grey list. The FATF said it was significantly concerned about the pace of Vietnam’s progress and warned it would consider next steps if Hanoi does not make tangible improvements by the next plenary meeting. The warning puts Vietnam under clear pressure to accelerate reforms before the watchdog meets again.
At the sharper end of the system, Iran and Myanmar remain on the FATF’s blacklist, formally known as the list of high-risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action. The watchdog reinforced its warning against Myanmar, a decision that comes after Reuters reported earlier on Friday that Japan had been pushing for Myanmar to be removed from the blacklist to make business with the country easier.
Myanmar was added to the blacklist in October 2022, after the military seized power in a 2021 coup and the country descended into turmoil and civil war. It has since remained under scrutiny over illicit finance and scam centres. The FATF’s decision to keep it listed, despite the diplomatic push, signals that the watchdog is not yet satisfied that the risks have been addressed.
The changes were agreed at the FATF’s third and final plenary meeting of the year in Paris. They do not automatically rewrite other countries’ own high-risk lists, which are updated through separate national and regional processes, but a grey-list removal is widely read as a vote of confidence in a country’s anti-money-laundering system and can ease the compliance burden on its banks and businesses over time.
Sources: Reuters, “FATF removes Bulgaria, Congo, Ivory Coast and Monaco but leaves Vietnam on ‘grey list’”, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/fatf-removes-bulgaria-congo-ivory-coast-monaco-leaves-vietnam-grey-list-2026-10-30/ ; Reuters, “Japan pushes to remove Myanmar from global financial watchdog’s blacklist”, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-pushes-remove-myanmar-global-financial-watchdogs-blacklist-2026-10-30/
