PARIS: Global anti-money laundering watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said on Friday it had removed Monaco from its “grey list”, two years after it put the principality on its list of nations requiring increased monitoring.

Bulgaria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Ivory Coast were also removed from the list, the organisation said after its biannual plenary meeting.

The countries had completed their promised action plans “and will no longer be subject to the FATF’s increased monitoring process”, it added.

The Paris-based FATF monitors efforts by more than 200 countries and jurisdictions to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Grey list nations are considered to have “strategic deficiencies” in countering money laundering and terrorist financing, while cooperating with the FATF to correct the problems.

Long known as a playground for the rich and famous, Monaco attracts moneyed residents due to an extremely favourable tax regime, which includes an absence of income and wealth taxes.

The FATF said Monaco had made “significant progress” in strengthening the effectiveness of its efforts to counter money laundering and terrorist financing.

The FATF had urged Monaco to boost resources to investigators and prosecutors and increase seizures of property suspected to derive from criminal activities.

It called for more effective cooperation on countering money laundering and terrorist financing, and for its officials to send more requests to identify and seek the seizure of criminal assets abroad.

Monaco introduced an offence of presumed money laundering to facilitate prosecution of cases in which the origin of funds is unclear.

It also boosted funding for its financial regulator and created a special unit in the public prosecutor’s office.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2026