4th FATF Plenary Meeting Held from October 22 to 24, 2025 in Paris

Current Context: The 4th Plenary Meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) was held in Paris, France, from 22–24 October 2025, under the chairmanship of Elisa de Anda Madrazo (Mexico).

• The FATF, an inter-governmental body of 200+ jurisdictions, works to combat Money Laundering (ML), Terrorist Financing (TF), and Proliferation Financing (PF).
• The meeting reviewed global compliance, updated the Grey List (removing Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa) and reaffirmed the Blacklist (North Korea, Iran, Myanmar).
• Belgium and Malaysia became the first countries assessed under the new round of FATF mutual evaluations.
• Jamaica, Nigeria, and Kenya joined as guests under the FATF Guest Initiative.
• The plenary emphasized tackling risks from virtual assets, new technologies, and illicit financial flows.
• Its aim was to strengthen global financial integrity and deprive criminals of illicit gains.

Question:

Q.1 Which countries were removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Grey List in October 2025?
a) Nigeria, South Africa, Mozambique, Burkina Faso
b) Nigeria, Kenya, Malaysia, Belgium
c) Jamaica, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea
d) Mozambique, Kenya, Jamaica, Belgium

Answer: a) Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Nigeria, and South Africa were taken off the FATF Grey List after improving compliance with global anti–money laundering and counter–terrorist financing standards.