On Wednesday September 02, 2024, the South African government was urged to put everything in place to address the persistent shortcomings and ensure the rapid removal of South Africa from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.

Since February 2023, South Africa has been placed on the FATF gray list for non-compliance with international standards for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. The vice president of the South African Business Group (BUSA), Adrian Gore, said that “countries on the grey list are subject to increased surveillance, making it more difficult to conclude cross-border transactions.” For this fact, the latter declared that “urgent interventions are needed to address the outstanding points of the action plan to get out of the gray list.” For Pieter Smit, interim director of the Financial Intelligence Center (FIC), sector risk assessment is necessary to comply with the Financial Action Task Force's global standards to combat money laundering and terrorist financing

The placement of South Africa on the Financial Action Task Force's grey list in February 2023 seriously damaged the country's reputation in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. According to Hawken McEwan, financial expert and chief risk officer at DocFox, “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