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The DRC leaves the FATF grey list: a CERC recommendation implemented
The DRC was officially removed from the FATF grey list on 30 October 2026. CERC welcomes reforms that follow the recommendations of its UNCAC parallel report, including strengthening CENAREF, now implemented.
The Anti-Corruption Research Centre (CERC) welcomes this step, which follows several of the recommendations made in its civil society parallel report on the DRC’s implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).
Four years of reforms under monitoring
Since October 2022, the DRC had been under the FATF’s increased monitoring (ICRG process) because of strategic deficiencies in countering money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing (AML/CFT). To address them, the country carried out a plan of 23 measures, documented in ten progress reports and validated by an FATF on-site visit to Kinshasa in September 2026.
The legal, institutional and operational reforms were led by the National Financial Intelligence Unit (CENAREF), under the Ministry of Finance, with the Central Bank of the Congo, the insurance regulator (ARCA), the Ministry of Justice and the courts, the Military Prosecutor’s Office and reporting entities in the private sector.
According to the government, leaving the grey list should strengthen the confidence of investors and partners, ease relations with correspondent banks and reduce the perceived risk of financial transactions with the DRC.
What CERC recommended in 2022
Published in March 2022 with the UNCAC Coalition, CERC’s parallel report on Chapters II (prevention) and V (asset recovery) of the Convention made 42 recommendations to the Congolese authorities. Several addressed the AML/CFT system directly:
- strengthen the technical, human and financial capacity of CENAREF (recommendation 26);
- improve national AML/CFT coordination, with a mechanism to evaluate how all stakeholders implement national policies (recommendations 24 and 25);
- make information on the beneficial owners of legal persons available to foreign authorities (recommendation 20);
- make greater use of international mutual legal assistance to prosecute money laundering, and follow up cooperation cases (recommendations 12, 13 and 15);
- report cash and bearer securities to CENAREF, and strengthen cooperation between CENAREF, prosecutors and customs (recommendation 42).
With the grey-list exit, validated by the FATF after an on-site visit, CERC now records recommendation 26 (strengthening CENAREF) as implemented. National AML/CFT coordination has clearly improved (recommendations 24 and 25), but there is no public evidence yet that the COLUB itself was revitalised and resourced: these, like the other money-laundering recommendations, remain under follow-up until public evidence shows they have been implemented.
The status of each of the 42 recommendations is published and kept up to date on our results page.
Next steps
Leaving the grey list is not an end in itself. CERC calls on the authorities to:
- keep CENAREF and the supervisory authorities properly resourced, so that the progress lasts;
- turn the AML/CFT framework into effective investigations, prosecutions and confiscations, including in cases of corruption and embezzlement of public funds;
- adopt the anti-corruption law, declared admissible by the National Assembly in September 2026, as well as laws on access to information and whistleblower protection;
- involve civil society in following up the reforms and in the review of UNCAC implementation.
CERC will keep following up the recommendations of its report and bringing its expertise to a transparent Congolese financial system with integrity.
Sources: Financial Action Task Force (FATF), statement of 30 October 2026; ACTUALITE.CD, 30 October 2026.
About CERC
The Centre de Recherche sur l’Anti-Corruption (CERC) is a Congolese non-governmental organisation founded in April 2017 in South Kivu. With young people at its heart, CERC works with schools, communities, public institutions and partners to promote transparency, accountability and integrity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has held special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 2021. Learn more: Who we are.
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