Belarus — Country Risk Report

Belarus (Europe • Eastern Europe). Risk report as of the 19 Jun 2026 FATF plenary.

High country risk, with AML/CFT effectiveness gaps. Belarus's country risk score is 5.1/10, placing it in the high-risk band. The principal score driver is AML/CFT effectiveness, contributing 2.5 of 5.1 points. Separately, the treatment overlays show that Belarus is not currently FATF grey- or black-listed, and that Belarus has a sectoral sanctions programme. Firms should apply additional scrutiny where exposure involves state-linked entities, restricted sectors, sensitive technology, dual-use goods or politically exposed counterparties.

Recommended treatment

Enhanced due diligence on every relationship, with senior approval and enhanced ongoing monitoring.

At a glance

• FATF status: Not currently listed (one indicator only; it does not set the overall country risk rating by itself)
• Sectoral country-level sanctions programme identified; this is a legal treatment overlay and does not change the numeric country-risk score.
• Governance and institutions: 6.1/10
• Corruption (CPI 2025): 31/100, rank #124 of 182
• Enforcement data: not yet assessed (no RegActions coverage)

Country Risk Score: 5.1/10 (High)

Higher score means higher country risk (global average 5.5). Full information available. Composite score. Some evidence is older. Enforcement activity and CPI are context only; FATF listing and sanctions are regulatory overlays except the labelled FATF listing status used where no mutual evaluation exists.

All three underlying risk pillars are available. All three underlying risk pillars are available and weighted using the published formula. Weight sensitivity 5.0–5.2/10.

How this score was calculated

• AML/CFT effectiveness: 5.5/10 — 45% of this score
• Technical compliance: 2.6/10 — 20% of this score
• Governance and institutions: 6.1/10 — 35% of this score

Sanctions treatment: Screen transactions and counterparties. FATF treatment: none.

Principal risk drivers

• AML/CFT effectiveness: 5.5/10 × 45% = 2.5 points
• Governance and institutions: 6.1/10 × 35% = 2.1 points
• Technical compliance: 2.6/10 × 20% = 0.5 points

Mitigating factors

• Not currently on the FATF grey or black list.
• No comprehensive country-wide sanctions programme.
• Comparatively stronger political stability (4.1/10).
• Risk is concentrated in specific counterparties, sectors and transactions rather than applying uniformly.

Business impact

• Customer onboarding (Enhanced): Verify ultimate beneficial ownership and control from more than one source.
• Payments and transactions (Enhanced): Review transaction purpose, counterparties and the full payment routing.
• Trade and export activity (Enhanced): Screen goods, end users and potential dual-use exposure.
• Corporate clients (Enhanced): Assess state ownership, government links and political exposure.
• Ongoing monitoring (Enhanced): Alert on ownership changes, new designations and status changes.

Recommended controls

• Verify ultimate beneficial ownership using more than one reliable source.
• Identify state ownership, government influence and politically exposed persons.
• Screen entities, directors and beneficial owners against applicable sanctions lists.
• Apply enhanced review to technology, defence, telecommunications, financial services and dual-use activity.
• Document transaction purpose and source of funds where cross-border structures are complex.
• Escalate unresolved ownership opacity or adverse information to Compliance.

Enhanced due diligence triggers

• State ownership / control
• PEP involvement
• Sensitive / restricted sectors
• Opaque ownership
• Adverse media
• Dual-use goods & technology
• High-risk intermediary routing

FATF status: Not currently listed

Belarus is not on the FATF grey or black list as of the 19 Jun 2026 plenary.

Sanctions: Sectoral

• EU — sectoral: Restrictive measures in view of the situation in Belarus and the involvement of Belarus in the Russian aggression against Ukraine (source)
• OFAC — sectoral: Belarus Sanctions (source)
• UK — sectoral: Republic of Belarus sanctions (source)

Source details

International sanctions by issuing body

• UN: No
• EU: Yes (Sectoral)
• UK: Yes (Sectoral)
• US: Yes (Sectoral)

No means the complete UN, UK, EU and US review found no direct country-level programme. People or organisations may still appear on sanctions lists.

Government effectiveness and rule of law (World Bank 2024, percentile)

• Government Effectiveness: 38/100
• Regulatory Quality: 35/100
• Rule of Law: 36/100

Regulators and legal framework

FATF network

FATF network via EAG.

• Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism

Last mutual evaluation: 2019 · report

National regulators

Regulator profiles not yet available on RegActions.

FIU: Egmont Group member (DFM)

Framework signals

• FATF listing: Not currently listed
• International sanctions: sectoral country programme (legal treatment overlay)
• Corruption (CPI 2025): 31/100, rank #124 of 182
• Rule of law (WGI): 6.4/10 risk

Regulatory ecosystem and enforcement visibility

This evidence map is separate from Country Risk v3. It describes official mandates, publication access and RegActions coverage; it does not judge regulatory strength or add points to country risk.

Transparency Index: not scored · Evidence disposition: local-authority-evidence · Mapped official authorities: 2.

Evidence level: Level 1: Identity confirmed. The ladder uses the authority evidenceLevel schema directly and does not infer a level from a URL, site access or RegActions feed count.

1. 1. Identity confirmed — The authority and its mandate are evidenced by official directory provenance.
2. 2. Regulatory activity visible — A qualified authority-owned route has provisional dated activity in the first-page scan.
3. 3. Enforcement visible — A qualified authority-owned enforcement route has provisional dated activity in the first-page scan.
4. 4. Score eligible — Shown only when the authority evidence schema explicitly records score-eligible; no authority currently does.

Enforcement visibility: No authority is classified enforcement-visible or score-eligible in the authority evidence schema. Enforcement visibility remains unknown or limited to identity/activity evidence; this is not evidence of no enforcement.

Authorities and mandate evidence

• National Bank of the Republic of Belarus — Level 1: Identity confirmed · Official site timed out

  Mandates: Central bank, Prudential supervision · Access status: Official site timed out · Research/publication snapshot checked: 2026-08-20

  Official authority site

  Provisional first-page scan signal

  Signal: unknown · Observed month count: unknown · Latest observed month: unknown.

  Source access was limited during this research check, so activity remains unknown. This is not evidence of inactivity.

  Scan contract and precision

  automated-first-page-date-scan · 2024-01 to 2026-08 · as of 2026-08-20 · month precision · first-page-only-unvalidated. This is not a validated engagement frequency.

  No publication candidate is qualified. Regulatory activity and enforcement visibility remain unknown.

  Activity and enforcement visibility remain unknown; this access limitation does not establish that the authority has no enforcement activity.

• The Department of Financial Monitoring of the State Control Committee of the Republic of Belarus (DFM) — Level 1: Identity confirmed · Official site timed out

  Mandates: Financial intelligence · Access status: Official site timed out · Research/publication snapshot checked: 2026-08-20

  Official authority site

  Provisional first-page scan signal

  Signal: unknown · Observed month count: unknown · Latest observed month: unknown.

  Source access was limited during this research check, so activity remains unknown. This is not evidence of inactivity.

  Scan contract and precision

  automated-first-page-date-scan · 2024-01 to 2026-08 · as of 2026-08-20 · month precision · first-page-only-unvalidated. This is not a validated engagement frequency.

  No publication candidate is qualified. Regulatory activity and enforcement visibility remain unknown.

  Activity and enforcement visibility remain unknown; this access limitation does not establish that the authority has no enforcement activity.

Download regulatory ecosystem PDF · CSV · JSON

Sector exposure

• Banking & payments (Elevated): Governance pillar risk is 6.1/10
• Trade & export controls (High): Sectoral sanctions overlay restricts named trade sectors
• Crypto & virtual assets (Low): No FATF overlay and effectiveness pillar within normal range
• Real estate & luxury assets (High): BO subscore 7.7/10; CPI context 31/100
• State-linked & procurement (Elevated): Governance pillar risk is 6.1/10

Derived from sanctions tier, FATF listing, World Bank WGI governance and CPI; no per-sector dataset is asserted.

Belarus: analysis

Belarus combines a weak governance profile with a broad sanctions regime. All four governance domains are elevated: voice and accountability is severe, corruption is elevated, rule of law and institutions is elevated, and political stability is moderate. Belarus is not on the FATF grey or black list. However, the breadth of the sanctions regime, covering OFAC targeted measures alongside EU and UK sectoral programmes, materially raises counterparty and transaction risk. The CPI reading reinforces the weak integrity environment.

Outlook

The sanctions environment affecting Belarus is unlikely to ease in the near term given the political situation. Firms should expect continued restrictions on financial flows and elevated due-diligence requirements for any Belarusian nexus. FATF listing is not currently in place but governance weaknesses mean monitoring for potential future listing remains prudent. The next FATF plenary is scheduled for October 2026.

Key watchpoints

• Track changes to EU, UK, and OFAC sanctions programmes relating to Belarus, including any new designations or sectoral extensions.
• Monitor for any future FATF grey-listing of Belarus given its governance profile.
• Apply enhanced due diligence to all transactions and relationships with a Belarusian nexus.
• Watch for changes to CPI and WGI scores that could signal further governance deterioration.

Assessment currency

• FATF status: Not listed (as of 19 Jun 2026)
• Sanctions exposure: Sectoral programme in place (as of Jul 2026)
• Governance (WGI): Latest dataset incorporated (as of 2024)
• Corruption (CPI): 31/100 (as of 2025)
• RegActions assessment: Reviewed (as of 19 Jun 2026)

Public evidence layer

FATF action: none. No FATF call-for-action or increased-monitoring status was identified at the latest plenary. This does not establish low risk.

Contextual signals (not scored)

• FATF network membership: FATF regional network: EAG (present, as of 2026-07)
• EU non-cooperative tax jurisdictions: Not listed in Annex I (absent, as of 2026-02-17)
• Egmont Group FIU: DFM (present, as of 2026-07-17)
• Beneficial-ownership register: No live register identified in the source (unavailable, as of 2026-08-23)
• Transparency International CPI: 31/100, rank 124 (present, as of 2025)

Evidence freshness

• FATF monitored-jurisdiction status: current; data 2026-06-19
• FATF mutual evaluation and follow-up ratings: current; data 2026-08-24; follow-up 2019-12; base assessment 2019-12
• World Bank governance indicators: current; data 2024
• UN, UK, EU and US sanctions regimes: current; data 2026-08-30

Contextual signals are public evidence only and do not change the current country-risk score.

Download evidence PDF · CSV · JSON

Contextual risk evidence (not scored)

These eight evidence families provide context only. They do not change the v3.1 headline score. Unavailable means no reviewed, country-comparable evidence is currently ingested; it does not mean the risk is absent.

• Organised crime: Not available. No reviewed country-level organised-crime dataset is currently checked in; no risk value is inferred. Candidate sources are research leads only; they have not been ingested as evidence.
• Fraud and cybercrime: Not available. No reviewed country-level fraud or cybercrime dataset is currently checked in; no risk value is inferred. Candidate sources are research leads only; they have not been ingested as evidence.
• Terrorism and proliferation financing: Not available. No reviewed country-comparable terrorism/proliferation threat dataset is currently checked in; FATF listing status remains a separate overlay. Candidate sources are research leads only; they have not been ingested as evidence.
• Trafficking: Not available. No reviewed country-level trafficking dataset is currently checked in; no risk value is inferred. Candidate sources are research leads only; they have not been ingested as evidence.
• Financial secrecy and offshore exposure: Not available. No reviewed, licence-clean financial-secrecy index is currently checked in; jurisdiction type alone is not used as a proxy. Candidate sources are research leads only; they have not been ingested as evidence.
• Tax cooperation: Not listed in EU Annex I. Annex I is a political/legal tax-cooperation list, not a general AML, corruption, or country-risk score. Source
• Political stability and conflict: 59/100 WGI percentile. WGI is an institutional perception indicator, not a conflict event feed or a prediction of future violence. Source
• Beneficial ownership: Not available. The Open Ownership map is a live-register snapshot and absence means no register was identified in that snapshot, not that no register exists. Candidate sources are research leads only; they have not been ingested as evidence.

Regional peer scores

• Bosnia and Herzegovina: 6.0/10 (High)
• Bulgaria: 5.7/10 (High)
• Azerbaijan: 5.3/10 (High)
• Hungary: 5.3/10 (High)
• Ukraine: 5.3/10 (High)
• Albania: 5.2/10 (High)

Source: FATF black & grey lists · World Bank WGI (CC BY 4.0 — World Bank WGI) · TI CPI (CC BY-ND 4.0 — Transparency International, display only)