FATF clears four countries from the grey list and makes scam compounds a priority

What happened

On 30 October 2026, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published the outcomes of its plenary in Paris, held from 28 to 30 October. It was the first plenary under the UK Presidency of Giles Thomson.

The FATF removed Bulgaria, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Monaco from its list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, often called the grey list. It said all four had completed their action plans within agreed timeframes. The updated list, published the same day, carries statements on 18 jurisdictions, including Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Venezuela, Vietnam, and the Virgin Islands (UK).

The FATF expressed significant concern about Vietnam’s pace of progress, noting that all of its action plan deadlines expired in May 2025. It expects to see tangible improvements by February 2027, or it will consider next steps. On the black list, the FATF updated its statements on Myanmar and Iran, reinforcing its call on Myanmar to address the extensive fraud and scam activity coming from the country.

The plenary approved a report on the illicit financial flows linked to scam compounds, which the FATF said would be published the following week. It also agreed a new targeted review of how jurisdictions with materially important virtual asset sectors implement the FATF Standards, with results due in June and October 2027. The mutual evaluations of Mexico and the United States were adopted and will be published in December 2026.

Why it matters

Grey list changes flow straight into country risk models, and some institutions apply enhanced due diligence automatically to listed jurisdictions. The FATF’s own statement says it does not call for enhanced due diligence on these jurisdictions, and that its Standards do not envisage derisking. A removal is a signal to reassess, and the underlying risk in a market rarely changes on the day a list does.

The fraud agenda is the bigger shift. The FATF calls the scam compound report the first output of its roadmap on fraud under the UK Presidency, and its updated Myanmar statement reinforces the call to address fraud and scam activity. That suggests fraud proceeds will get more attention in future mutual evaluations, and supervisors are likely to follow.

The virtual asset review targets jurisdictions based on the size of their sectors and their assessment status. Firms with virtual asset service provider (VASP) counterparties in those markets should expect their regulators to face direct pressure through 2027.

Practitioner angle

• Put the four removals through your normal country risk governance. Record the rationale for any rating change, and do not let a system feed downgrade them automatically.
• Review exposure to the Virgin Islands (UK). Its action plan still covers supervision of trust and company service providers, and sanctions for breaches of beneficial ownership obligations. Both matter for corporate structures that use BVI companies.
• Flag Vietnam for a watch review ahead of February 2027, and note what further FATF action would mean for your correspondent and trade flows.
• Read the scam compound report when it is published and compare its typologies with your fraud and mule detection rules.
• List your VASP counterparties by jurisdiction now, so you can act quickly when the targeted review results appear.

Start with the country risk table. It is the control most directly affected by Friday’s decisions.