South Africa remains on the FATF greylist for non-compliance with international standards.
The last Publication in this regard is dated 2021 and can be found here.
Progress has been made in removing South Africa from the greylist, but progress has been slow and as at November 2024, several key areas still require attention.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary on 25 October 2024 announced nine upgrades for South Africa from its 22-item Action Plan, including eight to “largely addressed” and one to “partly addressed”. South Africa is now deemed to largely or fully address 16 of the 22 action items in its Action Plan, leaving the country with six outstanding action items to be addressed for the last scheduled reporting cycle, concluding in February 2025.
Source Trustworthy: Master’s call to action to have South Africa removed from greylist Phia van der Spuy
Trust and Ultimate Beneficial Ownership One of the single biggest problems in this regard is the pervasive use of trusts in South African law. Both inter vivos and testamentary trusts are commonly used and based on the English law of trusts. However, the problem is with identifying the ultimate beneficial owners of these trusts. The problem does not lie with the legal mechanism, but rather identifying those who stand to benefit from the assets and activities of these trusts.
A suitable solution may well be improved administration and reporting, instead of heavy-handed criminal prosecution.