The Central Bank of Nigeria has welcomed the Financial Action Task Force’s formal removal of Nigeria from its grey list of countries under increased monitoring for money laundering and terrorism financing risks.
In a statement on Saturday, CBN Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Mrs Hakama Sidi-Ali, said the decision followed a successful on-site evaluation confirming reforms implemented across the financial system.
Nigeria was placed on the grey list in February 2023 over strategic deficiencies in its anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing, and proliferation-financing frameworks. The exit, Sidi-Ali said, reflects significant improvements in regulation, supervision and enforcement.
The outcome follows a two-year reform programme led by the Federal Government and coordinated across agencies including the CBN, Ministry of Justice, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit and the EFCC.
The CBN’s role focused on stronger risk-based supervision, stricter governance requirements, enhanced compliance reporting across banking, remittance, BDC and fintech channels, as well as improved inter-agency enforcement coordination. Market governance tools such as the FX Code and the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System were also introduced to boost transparency.
The bank said Nigeria’s removal from the list is expected to lower compliance costs for businesses, improve access to international finance and make cross-border transactions faster and more affordable — benefits that should support trade, remittance flows and financial inclusion.
Sidi-Ali added that the development reinforces growing global confidence in Nigeria’s economic management, citing recent rating-outlook upgrades from Moody’s and Fitch.
