{"id":11024,"date":"2026-05-07T12:44:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.amlcc.com\/?p=11024"},"modified":"2026-05-07T12:44:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:44:29","slug":"whats-a-high-risk-third-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amlcc.com\/au\/whats-a-high-risk-third-country\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s a high-risk third country?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What’s a high-risk third country?<\/h1>\n\n\n
\"Lisa<\/div>
Lisa Simms<\/span>

Director and Founder of AMLCC and AMLCC Consult<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
\"What's<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A high-risk third country is a country outside the jurisdiction where a regulated business is based and operates, whose anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing or counter-proliferation financing framework has strategic weaknesses serious enough to warrant additional caution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term appears in some regulatory frameworks, including EU AML directives and the UK’s Money Laundering Regulations 2017<\/a> (as amended) (MLRs), where it’s used to identify foreign countries that trigger enhanced due diligence obligations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FATF<\/a> (the Financial Action Task Force) uses different terminology, referring to “higher-risk countries” in Recommendation 19 and publishing its lists under the heading of “high-risk jurisdictions<\/a>.” The wording differs, but the underlying idea is the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes a country high risk<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A country is treated as high risk when its legal, regulatory or supervisory framework has weaknesses that increase the likelihood of money laundering<\/a>, terrorist financing<\/a> or proliferation financing<\/a> going undetected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Common indicators include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n