South Africa’s addition to FATF’s grey list – what this means for local investors investing globally

In February 2023, South Africa was added to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF’s) grey list.  For SA clients seeking to invest within South Africa this has little or no effect; however, for SA clients seeking to invest outside South Africa there will be an impact.

At Nedgroup Investments International we welcome South African clients as investors, whether they choose to invest with us directly, via a fund platform or one of our feeder funds.  

South Africa’s addition to FATF’s grey list means that, from an anti-money laundering and countering of terrorist financing point of view, it is now a high-risk jurisdiction.  EU and Isle of Man regulation requires us to collect enhanced due diligence from investors – which means signed id, address verification and details and evidence of source of funds and source of wealth.  It also increases the frequency and level of scrutiny we must adopt in our regular client risk reviews and clients may be requested to provide additional information or documentation following such a review.

We have to work to our local regulation, adopting a high-risk approach.  We are still working through the implications of the grey listing and are mindful to take a pragmatic approach in the implementation of the enhanced requirements.  We continue to welcome SA investors as new clients and looking forward to continuing relationships with our existing clients, some of which stretch back nearly 30 years.

Working is underway with the SA sales team to notify clients and intermediaries of the new requirements.  If you have any questions, please do contact us via e-mail to helpdesk@nedgroupinvestments.com; Julie Sandra, Becky, Adam and Myleisha will be happy to help.