El Salvador — Country Risk Report

El Salvador (Americas • Central America). Risk report as of the 19 Jun 2026 FATF plenary.

Moderate country risk, with elevated corruption risk. El Salvador's country risk score is 4.4/10, placing it in the moderate-risk band. The principal driver is weak corruption, alongside voice and accountability risk. El Salvador is not currently FATF grey- or black-listed. El Salvador is not subject to comprehensive country-wide sanctions. Firms should apply additional scrutiny where exposure involves state-linked entities, restricted sectors, sensitive technology, dual-use goods or politically exposed counterparties.

Recommended treatment

Standard due diligence, with enhanced checks for defined risk triggers.

At a glance

  • FATF status: Not currently listed (one indicator only; it does not set the overall country risk rating by itself)
  • Comprehensive country sanctions: none identified. Targeted sanctions exposure: possible, screen applicable persons, entities and sectors
  • Government effectiveness and rule of law: 5.2/10
  • Corruption (CPI 2025): 32/100, rank #120 of 182
  • Enforcement data: not yet assessed (no RegActions coverage)

Country Risk Score: 4.4/10 (Moderate)

Higher score means higher country risk (global average 4.6). Full information available. Strong data coverage. Enforcement activity and CPI are shown for context but do not change the score.

All three parts of the score are available.

How this score was calculated

  • Financial crime controls: 5.7/10 — 50% of this score
  • Government effectiveness and rule of law: 5.2/10 — 30% of this score
  • International sanctions: 0.0/10 — 20% of this score

International sanctions contributes 0.0 because the complete UN, UK, EU and US review found no direct country-level sanctions programme. People or organisations connected to the country may still appear on sanctions lists.

Show the exact calculation

aml 5.7 × 50% + governance 5.2 × 30% + sanctions 0 × 20% = 4.4; final 4.4

Principal risk drivers

  • Corruption (WGI) — 6.4/10
  • Voice & accountability — 5.7/10
  • Rule of law & institutions — 5.2/10

Mitigating factors

  • Not currently on the FATF grey or black list.
  • No comprehensive country-wide sanctions programme.
  • Comparatively stronger political stability (3.4/10).
  • Risk is concentrated in specific counterparties, sectors and transactions rather than applying uniformly.

Business impact

  • Customer onboarding (Medium): Additional ownership and control verification may be required.
  • Payments and transactions (Medium): Review transaction purpose, counterparties and geographic routing.
  • Trade and export activity (Medium): Screen goods, end users and potential dual-use exposure.
  • Corporate clients (Medium): Assess state ownership, government links and political exposure.
  • Ongoing monitoring (Medium): Apply alerts for ownership changes, sanctions and geopolitical developments.

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

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

Source details

International sanctions by issuing body

  • UN: No
  • EU: No
  • UK: No
  • US: No

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: 48/100
  • Regulatory Quality: 52/100
  • Rule of Law: 45/100

Regulators and legal framework

FATF network

FATF network via CFATF · GAFILAT.

Last mutual evaluation: 2024 · report

National regulators

Regulator profiles not yet available on RegActions.

FIU: Egmont Group member (UIF)

Framework signals

  • FATF listing: Not currently listed
  • International sanctions: no listed programme identified
  • Corruption (CPI 2025): 32/100, rank #120 of 182
  • Rule of law (WGI): 5.2/10 risk

Sector exposure

  • Banking & payments (Low): No FATF listing, rule-of-law governance within normal range
  • Trade & export controls (Low): No sanctions programme or FATF black-list constraint identified
  • Crypto & virtual assets (Low): No FATF listing, accountability governance within normal range
  • Real estate & luxury assets (Elevated): Elevated corruption exposure (CPI 32/100)
  • State-linked & procurement (Elevated): State-capture exposure (corruption WGI 6.4/10)

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

El Salvador: analysis

El Salvador's profile is driven entirely by its governance indicators, with corruption (elevated) as the most significant concern, corroborated by a weak CPI reading. Voice and accountability (elevated) is equally elevated, indicating meaningful constraints on political freedoms and oversight mechanisms. Rule of law and institutions (elevated) presents a further weakness, while political stability (moderate) is a comparative strength within an otherwise challenging governance landscape. El Salvador sits just below the global midpoint on the World Bank governance indicators. No FATF or sanctions overlay applies.

Outlook

El Salvador's risk profile is subject to evolving governance dynamics, including policy changes affecting institutional independence. Concentration of political authority, if sustained, could weaken the voice-and-accountability domain further. The country's adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender introduces additional compliance considerations for virtual asset exposure. Any deterioration in anti-corruption enforcement capacity would place upward pressure on the risk profile. The October 2026 FATF plenary should be monitored for any indications of enhanced regional scrutiny.

Key watchpoints

  • Virtual asset exposure following Bitcoin's status as legal tender and associated AML compliance requirements.
  • Judicial and institutional independence trends that could affect the rule-of-law risk domain.
  • Voice and accountability developments, including media freedom and civil society access.
  • FATF plenary in October 2026 for any regional monitoring developments relevant to El Salvador.

Assessment currency

  • FATF status: Not listed (as of 19 Jun 2026)
  • Sanctions exposure: None identified (as of Jul 2026)
  • Governance (WGI): Latest dataset incorporated (as of 2024)
  • Corruption (CPI): 32/100 (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: CFATF, GAFILAT (present, as of 2026-07)
  • EU non-cooperative tax jurisdictions: Not listed in Annex I (absent, as of 2026-02-17)
  • Egmont Group FIU: UIF (present, as of 2026-07-17)
  • Beneficial-ownership register: No live register identified in the source (unavailable, as of 2026-07-17)
  • Transparency International CPI: 32/100, rank 120 (present, as of 2025)

Evidence freshness

  • FATF monitored-jurisdiction status: current; data 2026-06-19
  • FATF mutual evaluation and follow-up ratings: current; data 2026-07-31; follow-up 2024-08; base assessment 2024-08
  • World Bank governance indicators: current; data 2024
  • UN, UK, EU and US sanctions regimes: current; data 2026-08-13

Contextual signals are public evidence only and do not change the immutable v2 score.

Download evidence PDF · CSV · JSON

Regional peer scores

FAQ

Is El Salvador on the FATF grey list?

No. El Salvador is not on the FATF grey or black list as of the 19 Jun 2026 plenary. FATF listing is one AML indicator; absence from the list does not by itself make El Salvador low risk. The next FATF plenary review is scheduled for Oct 2026.

Is El Salvador subject to sanctions?

No country-level programme was identified. In the approved RegActions snapshot, no comprehensive or targeted country-wide sanctions programme was found for El Salvador, but individual listed persons may still exist, so firms should continue to screen counterparties against the applicable lists.

What is El Salvador's country risk rating?

RegActions rates El Salvador at 4.4/10 (Moderate risk), where a higher score means higher country risk. The score combines financial crime controls, government effectiveness and rule of law, and international sanctions. Transparency International's 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index scores El Salvador 32/100 (rank #120 of 182).

What due diligence applies to El Salvador?

Standard due diligence, with enhanced checks for defined risk triggers. This is decision-support based on El Salvador's FATF status, governance and sanctions signals, and is not a substitute for a firm's own risk assessment.

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)