Guernsey — Country Risk Report

Guernsey (Offshore / IFC • Crown Dependency). Risk report as of the 19 Jun 2026 FATF plenary.

Moderate country risk. Guernsey's country risk score is 2.6/10, placing it in the moderate-risk band. Some information is unavailable, so the available parts are rebalanced and the country will not be labelled Low risk while information is missing. The principal driver is its governance profile. Guernsey is not currently FATF grey- or black-listed. Guernsey 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: information unavailable
• Corruption (CPI): no score
• Enforcement: 28 actions from 1 regulator

Country Risk Score: 2.6/10 (Moderate)

Higher score means higher country risk (global average 4.6). Some information unavailable. Limited supporting information. Enforcement activity and CPI are shown for context but do not change the score.

One of the three parts is unavailable. The available parts are rebalanced, and the result will not be labelled Low risk while information is missing.

How this score was calculated

• Financial crime controls: 3.6/10 — 71% of this score
• Government effectiveness and rule of law: information unavailable — 0% of this score
• International sanctions: 0.0/10 — 29% of this score
• Government effectiveness and rule of law information is unavailable.

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.

Principal risk drivers

• Government effectiveness and rule of law drive the score; no FATF listing or direct country-level sanctions were identified

Mitigating factors

• Not currently on the FATF grey or black list.
• No comprehensive country-wide sanctions programme.
• 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

Guernsey 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: no data
• Regulatory Quality: no data
• Rule of Law: no data

Enforcement activity

RegActions tracks 28 enforcement actions from 1 regulator in Guernsey.

• GFSC — Guernsey Financial Services Commission (28 actions, 2005-2026)

The composite RegActions Country Risk Score does not use enforcement volume.

Regulators and legal framework

FATF network

FATF network via MONEYVAL.

• Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures (MONEYVAL)

Last mutual evaluation: 2024 · report

National regulators

• GFSC — Guernsey Financial Services Commission (28 actions, 2005-2026)

FIU: Egmont Group member (FIS)

Framework signals

• FATF listing: Not currently listed
• International sanctions: no listed programme identified
• BO register: Restricted (live since 2018)
• Corruption (CPI): no score
• Rule of law (WGI): no data

Sector exposure

• Banking & payments (Review): Rule-of-law evidence unavailable; no low-exposure conclusion
• Trade & export controls (Low): No sanctions programme or FATF black-list constraint identified
• Crypto & virtual assets (Review): Accountability evidence unavailable; no low-exposure conclusion
• Real estate & luxury assets (Review): Corruption-control evidence unavailable; no low-exposure conclusion
• State-linked & procurement (Review): Governance evidence incomplete; no low-exposure conclusion

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

Guernsey: analysis

Guernsey's headline scoring rests on a limited evidence base, as World Bank WGI governance domain data are not published for the jurisdiction; the data gap is not itself a positive or negative assessment. No FATF or sanctions overlay applies. As a Crown Dependency and internationally recognised offshore financial centre, Guernsey operates under an AML/CFT framework aligned with UK and FATF standards. The GFSC's 28 enforcement actions over 2005 to 2026 indicate a consistent and engaged supervisory approach. In the absence of WGI data, firms should treat Guernsey's risk as evidence-limited and rely on regulatory guidance and third-party country risk assessments.

Outlook

Guernsey's regulatory framework and enforcement track record support a low-risk characterisation in practice. The primary monitoring considerations are the effectiveness of beneficial ownership controls, the robustness of AML/CFT supervision for complex structures, and ongoing alignment with evolving international standards. Any future WGI data availability or FATF assessment relevant to Guernsey would refine the modelled risk picture.

Key watchpoints

• GFSC enforcement activity and supervisory focus areas.
• Beneficial ownership transparency standards and any developments in public register access.
• International information-exchange obligations and compliance with global standards.
• Any FATF assessment outcomes or changes to Guernsey's AML/CFT framework status.

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): Not available (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: MONEYVAL (present, as of 2026-07)
• EU non-cooperative tax jurisdictions: Not listed in Annex I (absent, as of 2026-02-17)
• Egmont Group FIU: FIS (present, as of 2026-07-17)
• Beneficial-ownership register: Restricted (live since 2018) (present, as of 2026-07-17)
• Transparency International CPI: No CPI result available (unavailable, 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 2024-12; base assessment 2024-12
• 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

• British Virgin Islands: 6.0/10 (High)
• Sint Maarten: 5.6/10 (High)
• Curaçao: 4.5/10 (Moderate)
• Turks and Caicos Islands: 4.5/10 (Moderate)
• Barbados: 4.4/10 (Moderate)
• Antigua and Barbuda: 4.2/10 (Moderate)

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)