Is the Financial Action Task Force Fit for the Future?

As the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) shapes global standards, its enforcement — especially greylisting — raises serious concerns about fairness and effectiveness in developing countries. Drawing on mutual evaluation reports from 22 greylisted African countries and triangulating findings with the 2025 Basel AML Index, this article analyses the FATF's ratings of African nations, examines how they compare with independent risk assessments, and highlights structural tensions in the organisation's governance and decision-making. It argues that combining a managerial model of cooperation and interactional compliance is more effective than coercion and sanctions, and recommends context-sensitive, legitimate processes to foster a fairer and more effective global financial integrity regime.