Palestine — Country Risk Report

Palestine (Middle East • Western Asia). Risk report as of the 19 Jun 2026 FATF plenary.

Moderate country risk, with governance and transparency concerns. Palestine's country risk score is 3.8/10, 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 weak voice and accountability, alongside political stability risk. Palestine is not currently FATF grey- or black-listed. Palestine 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: 6.3/10
  • Corruption (CPI): no score
  • Enforcement data: not yet assessed (no RegActions coverage)

Country Risk Score: 3.8/10 (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: information unavailable — 0% of this score
  • Government effectiveness and rule of law: 6.3/10 — 60% of this score
  • International sanctions: 0.0/10 — 40% of this score
  • Financial crime controls 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.

Show the exact calculation

governance 6.3 × 60% + sanctions 0 × 40% = 3.8; final 3.8

Principal risk drivers

  • Voice & accountability — 6.7/10
  • Political stability — 6.6/10
  • Corruption (WGI) — 6.4/10
  • Rule of law & institutions — 6.1/10

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

Palestine 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: 30/100
  • Regulatory Quality: 47/100
  • Rule of Law: 40/100

Regulators and legal framework

FATF network

FATF network via MENAFATF.

National regulators

Regulator profiles not yet available on RegActions.

FIU: Egmont Group member (FFU-Palestine)

Framework signals

  • FATF listing: Not currently listed
  • International sanctions: no listed programme identified
  • Corruption (CPI): no score
  • Rule of law (WGI): 6.1/10 risk

Sector exposure

  • Banking & payments (Elevated): Weak rule-of-law governance (WGI 6.1/10 risk)
  • Trade & export controls (Low): No sanctions programme or FATF black-list constraint identified
  • Crypto & virtual assets (Elevated): Weak accountability governance (WGI 6.7/10 risk)
  • Real estate & luxury assets (Elevated): Weak corruption-control governance (WGI 6.4/10 risk)
  • 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.

Palestine: analysis

Palestine's profile is derived from its governance indicators alone, as neither FATF nor sanctions overlay applies. All four governance domains are elevated: voice and accountability (elevated) and corruption (elevated) are the weakest, while rule of law (elevated) and political stability (elevated) are also substantially above the low-risk threshold. No CPI data is available for comparative context. Palestine sits below the median of assessed jurisdictions on the World Bank governance indicators. The combination of ongoing conflict, divided governance structures, and weak institutional capacity drives the elevated risk.

Outlook

The risk outlook for Palestine is closely tied to the trajectory of the political and security situation. Without a meaningful improvement in institutional stability and governance capacity, the High risk rating is likely to persist. Firms should ensure enhanced due diligence on all Palestine-connected flows, with particular attention to beneficial ownership transparency and humanitarian-channel misuse risks.

Key watchpoints

  • Political and security developments affecting institutional authority and territorial control.
  • Any FATF engagement or listing decisions relating to Palestinian territories.
  • Humanitarian financing flows and associated exposure to misuse or diversion.
  • Developments in banking sector access and cross-border payment infrastructure.

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: MENAFATF (present, as of 2026-07)
  • EU non-cooperative tax jurisdictions: Not listed in Annex I (absent, as of 2026-02-17)
  • Egmont Group FIU: FFU-Palestine (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: 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
  • World Bank governance indicators: current; data 2024
  • UN, UK, EU and US sanctions regimes: current; data 2026-08-16

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

Download evidence PDF · CSV · JSON

Regional peer scores

FAQ

Is Palestine on the FATF grey list?

No. Palestine 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 Palestine low risk. The next FATF plenary review is scheduled for Oct 2026.

Is Palestine 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 Palestine, but individual listed persons may still exist, so firms should continue to screen counterparties against the applicable lists.

What is Palestine's country risk rating?

RegActions rates Palestine at 3.8/10 (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. Some information is unavailable, so the available parts are rebalanced and the country will not be labelled Low risk while information is missing.

What due diligence applies to Palestine?

Standard due diligence, with enhanced checks for defined risk triggers. This is decision-support based on Palestine'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)