Tag: money laundering

We welcome the decision by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to remove South Africa from the list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, also known as the “grey list”. The FATF announced this decision on Friday, 24 October, at the conclusion of its plenary held from 20 to 24 October 2025. This announcement came 32 months after our country was placed on the grey list in February 2023.

With the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s review imminent, the country faces more than the risk of remaining greylisted. Outdated and costly international money transfers undermine competitiveness, increase trade risks and deter investment. A month remains before the FATF’s follow-up site visit. This visit will decide whether the country is ready to be taken off the dreaded FATF greylist.

The significance of having a robust Risk Management and Compliance Programme (RMCP) for combating Money Laundering (ML), Terrorist Financing (TF) and Proliferation Financing (PF), cannot be taken lightly.

With South Africa tightening its grip on crypto regulations, Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASPs) must act now to avoid compliance failures. As of April 30, 2025, new crypto compliance rules in form of Directive 9 will introduce stricter requirements for tracking and reporting crypto asset transactions.

The evolution of South Africa's debit order landscape has marked a journey of significant milestones. The shift from the Registered Mandate Service (RMS) to the Registered Mandate (RM) payment stream requires businesses and consumers to understand its effects.

There is a rare opportunity to right a lot of South Africa’s wrongs in one go. Corruption and unemployment are two major roadblocks. Permit me to explain how they can be simultaneously addressed within the current administration. I suggest an amnesty largely on the African National Congress (ANC’s) past wrongdoing in office in return for liberalisation of labour laws. This may be for a bit further down the line.

Investing in an offshore retirement fund is one way of growing your wealth in a stable economy over the longer term, or even gaining residency in a foreign country. However, for South Africans, this scenario presents as many challenges as it does opportunities and should only be considered after consulting with a financial adviser and tax expert.

Online betting in South Africa is a thriving business, expected to become a billion-dollar sector within four years. But there are risks, especially as the digital era makes it easy to forge identities. Betting companies must manage fraud risks and honour legislation, avoid financial and reputational damage, and continue investing in customer relationships.

The trade finance ecosystem plays a crucial role in facilitating international trade by providing financing and risk mitigation services to importers, exporters and other participants in the global supply chain. In recent years, the trade finance ecosystem has undergone significant transformations driven by technological advancements and the growing importance of data – and we’re proud to be leading the charge in and for Africa.

Locally, as trust compliance becomes more complex and trusts become more costly to administer, their value is increasingly being questioned. However, a trust’s worth extends beyond its financial benefits, and as such, they are still very relevant tools to use in a well-crafted estate plan, especially for high-net-worth families.