FATF Blacklist

The FATF blacklist was the common shorthand description for the Financial Action Task Force list of "Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories" (NCCTs); that is, countries which it perceived to be non-cooperative in the global fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. Although non-appearance on the blacklist was perceived to be a mark of approbation for Offshore Financial Centres (or "tax havens") who are sufficiently well regulated to meet all of the FATF's criteria, in practice the list included countries that do not operate as offshore financial centres. The FATF updates the blacklist regularly, designating countries to be added or deleted.

The term "non-cooperative" was sometimes criticized as misleading, as a number of the countries which appeared on the list simply lacked the infrastructure or resources to cope with relatively sophisticated financial criminals who try to operate there. As Since 2008 the FATF has begun, at the behest of the G20 Leaders, a different and more analytical process of identifying countries and jurisdictions displaying strategic deficiencies in their anti- money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regimes.