A South African financial expert said on Monday that placing South Africa on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list has seriously damaged the country's reputation in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

Hawken McEwan, chief risk officer at DocFox, said that “the rest of the world now sees South Africa as being below average in the fight against financial crimes such as corruption, money laundering, and terrorist financing.” According to the latter, “the gray list means that individuals and local businesses will be subject to greater scrutiny regarding their source of funds, their counterparties, and the reasons for their transactions before international businesses do business with them.” The international watchdog emphasized that South Africa needed to adopt a more risk-based approach to fighting financial crime. It also identified intelligence gaps that require greater cooperation with other financial intelligence units and investigative authorities globally.