About the FATF
Established in 1989 by the Group of 7 (G7), the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an intergovernmental taskforce that functions as an international watchdog for global money laundering and terrorism financing.
The FATF regularly reviews countries with deficiencies in anti-money laundering (AML), counter-terrorism financing (CTF), and counter-proliferation financing (CPF) and works with them to improve their systems and ensure they’re in line with and do not present a risk to the international finance system.
Foreword
Published in February 2026, this is the first annual report released under the tenure of the FATF’s newest president, Elisa de Anda Madrazo. The 2024-25 annual report provides a high-level overview of actions and successes achieved, such as:
- collaborating with partners to conduct comprehensive evaluations and identify and respond to new and emerging risks;
- publishing numerous reports and guidance; and
- announcing changes to Recommendation 16 (Payment transparency) and bolstering standards for Recommendation 1 (Assessing risks and applying a risk-based approach).
Strategic priorities
In addition to providing a broad overview of the organisation’s activities over the course of the year, the FATF also identified its current strategic priorities:
- Increased effectiveness in the peer process
- A stronger global network
- More effective implementation of global AML/CTF standards
- Respond to evolutions in finance
Partnerships
To succeed in its mission of improving global AML/CTF standards, the FATF sought to enhance its partnerships to “ensure concrete action around the world”. Several key events that helped the FATF achieve its goals and strengthen relationships include:
- The FATF’s flagship event, the Private Sector Collaboration Forum 2025, which included over 200 participants from both the public and private sectors;
- The January 2025 Joint Experts Meeting that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) hosted in Vienna;
- Two conferences the FATF attended in February 2025: the Munich Security Conference and the No Money for Terror
In addition, the FATF provided some statistics regarding its work with its partners:
- 40+ FATF projects included contributions from Observer organisations
- 146 jurisdictions participated in-person at three plenary meetings
- 177 FATF projects involved FATF-Style Regional Bodies (FSRB) Secretariats or their members
- There were 217 engagements with partners that furthered the FATF’s work
Notable publications
Case studies and information supplied by over 200 jurisdictions within the FATF’s global network (which consists of the FATF and nine FSRBs) informed the contents of eight publications published in 2024-25. Read by practitioners, the private sector, and policymakers among others, these publications, as stated by the FATF, “help strengthen operational responses by sharing best practice”.
Recommendation 1
Following the February 2025 Plenary, where an agreement was reached to change the FATF Standards to “better suppose a risk-based approach and financial inclusion”, the FATF approved changes to both Recommendation 1 and its Interpretive Note.
Recommendation 16
A notable highlight from the report is the change that took place at the FATF’s June 2025 Plenary, where it updated Recommendation 16 (also known as the Travel Rule), which would provide more detailed information with regards to virtual assets and transfers, including the following:
- Clarifying responsibilities within the payment chain
- Standardised information requirements
- Requirements to introduce tools that protect against fraud and error
- Clarification on card transactions
Updates
The annual report provided some updates around both compliance and grey-listed countries.
Technical Compliance
Data concerning improvements in compliance ratings with the FATF’s Standards revealed that technical compliance levels “now exceed 75% in all major areas of FATF’s work”.
Grey list improvements
The annual report was able to reveal the following information:
- Having addressed specific strategic deficiencies, five countries were removed from the grey list
- 11 countries on the grey list had notably improved their money laundering investigations and prosecutions
- 15 grey-listed countries saw improvements in supervision and private sector implementation
In addition to these two updates, the FATF provided two graphics that explain how the FATF reviews a country’s compliance with its 40 Recommendations and how it lists or delists countries.
FATF support
To help improve defences against illicit finance, the FATF partook in an event and a new initiative aimed at helping countries with less resources:
- A technical assistance peer exchange event was held to discuss “strategic issues and challenges relating to support for countries with fewer resources to tackle financial crime”
- A project for low capacity countries (LCCs) was initiated, with the intention of researching and identifying what’s needed to help LCCs develop effective AML/CTF regimes
Key takeaways
By collaborating with partners and supporting their needs, identifying and reviewing risks and the implementation of global AML/CTF standards, the FATF is able to continue succeeding in its mission of combatting global money laundering and terrorism financing.
