Japan’s push to lift Myanmar from FATF blacklist fails as watchdog keeps it listed

Japan’s push to remove Myanmar from the global financial crime blacklist has failed, for now. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) kept Myanmar on its highest-risk list after its plenary meeting in Paris ended on Friday, 30 October, alongside Iran and North Korea.

Reuters reported on 30 October that Japan wanted the FATF to drop Myanmar from the list, formally called the High-Risk Jurisdictions Subject to a Call for Action list. Tokyo wanted the extra screening on financial dealings with Myanmar lifted to make it easier to do business there. At least one other major Asian country was also pushing for Myanmar’s removal, according to a second source cited by Reuters.

The FATF did not agree. It left the blacklist unchanged, with Myanmar still subject to enhanced due diligence rather than the tougher countermeasures applied to Iran and North Korea. It renewed its call for Myanmar to tackle the illicit finance risks linked to fraud and cyber scam activity, which it described as extensive. The same meeting removed four countries — Bulgaria, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Monaco — from the FATF’s lower-risk “grey list” of jurisdictions under increased monitoring.

Myanmar has been on the blacklist since October 2022, after the military seized power in a February 2021 coup and the country missed a deadline to fix gaps in its defences against money laundering and terrorist financing. Japan, whose companies have kept a large presence in Myanmar while other firms left, believes removal would help the country’s economy recover.

Why it matters

Staying on the blacklist means banks and businesses face extra checks on transactions linked to Myanmar, raising costs and limiting access to international banking. The decision keeps that pressure in place while the scam centres operating in Myanmar’s border regions remain a major international concern, and it signals that at least some major countries are now willing to bring the military-backed government back into the fold.

What happens next

The FATF said it would consider countermeasures against Myanmar if it made no further progress by February 2027, when the next plenary is expected. Watch whether Japan raises the issue again there, and whether Myanmar acts on the fraud crackdown the watchdog demanded.

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.

Sources

• https://stratnewsglobal.com/asia/japan-pushes-to-remove-myanmar-from-global-financial-watchdogs-blacklist/ (Strat News Global, with inputs from Reuters, 30 October 2026)
• https://bankero.com.ph/fatf-removes-four-countries-from-money-laundering-watchlist-keeps-vietnam-under-scrutiny/main-news/ (Bankero, by Reuters, 31 October 2026)
• https://complyadvantage.com/insights/fatf-plenary-october-2026-four-grey-list-exits-a-virtual-asset-review-and-a-new-focus-on-scam-compounds/ (ComplyAdvantage, 31 October 2026)