FATF Grey List: Monaco, Bulgaria, Congo and Ivory Coast Removed — What It Means

Four countries have officially left the financial world's grey list. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said on Friday, 30 October that it had removed Monaco, Bulgaria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Côte d'Ivoire — better known as Ivory Coast — from its list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring.

According to reports from the Malay Mail and The Hindu BusinessLine, the decision came at the FATF plenary in Paris, the first under the United Kingdom presidency of Giles Thomson, held from 26 to 30 October. The four countries had completed their promised action plans and will no longer be subject to the FATF's increased monitoring process, the watchdog said.

What the grey list actually is

The FATF, based in Paris, monitors efforts by more than 200 countries and jurisdictions to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation. When it places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring — the grey list — it means that jurisdiction has strategic deficiencies in its defences, but has committed to an action plan to fix them within agreed timeframes.

Grey is not black. The black list, formally "jurisdictions subject to a call for action," is unchanged: Iran, North Korea and Myanmar remain on it, with countermeasures applying to Iran and North Korea and enhanced customer due diligence to Myanmar. Grey-listed countries, by contrast, are cooperating — and removal is the reward for completing the work.

Each of the four exits followed a successful on-site visit confirming the action plan was complete. Bulgaria had been on the grey list since 2023. Monaco was added two years ago. DR Congo had been listed since 2022 and Ivory Coast since 2024. All four will keep working with their regional bodies — MONEYVAL for Bulgaria and Monaco, GIABA for Côte d'Ivoire, and GABAC with ESAAMLG for DR Congo — to sustain the improvements.

Who is left — and what else the plenary decided

The exits leave 18 jurisdictions on the grey list, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bolivia, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and the British Virgin Islands, along with Cameroon, Haiti, Kenya, South Sudan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Angola, Lebanon, Laos, Nepal, Kuwait, Papua New Guinea and others named in the plenary outcomes.

Vietnam, by contrast, remains on the list, with the FATF expressing concern about the slow pace of reforms and warning that further action could follow if tangible improvements are not made before the next plenary, due in February in Paris.

The plenary also agreed to significantly accelerate implementation of FATF standards on virtual assets in jurisdictions with materially important crypto activity, and to step up action against fraud and scam compounds — a direct response to the virtual-asset crime and fraud networks that have grown alongside legitimate crypto markets.

What removal changes in practice

Removal does not automatically mean a country is low-risk, and it does not end scrutiny overnight. What it does, in practice, is reduce the enhanced monitoring that banks and businesses apply to transactions involving that jurisdiction — the extra checks, delays and correspondent-banking friction that grey-listing brings. For Monaco, a financial centre whose reputation took a hit from listing, and for Bulgaria, an EU member seeking to restore full confidence, that practical easing matters as much as the symbolism.

For DR Congo and Ivory Coast, the signal is different: that sustained reform, verified on the ground, can move a country off a list it joined years ago. The FATF's message to the 18 still listed is the same in both directions — complete the plan, pass the visit, and the list will let you go.

Related: FBI blames North Korea for the $6.3 billion Binance hack, a reminder of why virtual-asset crime topped the FATF agenda.