Serbia — Country Risk Report

Serbia (Europe • Southern Europe). Risk report as of the 19 Jun 2026 FATF plenary.

High country risk, with elevated corruption risk. Serbia's country risk score is 6.0/10, placing it in the high-risk band. The principal driver is weak corruption, alongside voice and accountability risk. Serbia is not currently FATF grey- or black-listed. Serbia 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

Enhanced due diligence.

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: programmes in place, screen applicable lists
  • Government effectiveness and rule of law: 4.8/10
  • Corruption (CPI 2025): 33/100, rank #116 of 182
  • Enforcement data: not yet assessed (no RegActions coverage)

Country Risk Score: 6.0/10 (High)

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: 4.0/10 — 50% of this score
  • Government effectiveness and rule of law: 4.8/10 — 30% of this score
  • International sanctions: 5.2/10 — 20% of this score
  • sector-wide international sanctions means the score cannot be lower than 6.0. This minimum set the final score.
Show the exact calculation

aml 4 × 50% + governance 4.8 × 30% + sanctions 5.2 × 20% = 4.5; sanctions-sectoral floor 6 applied; final 6

Principal risk drivers

  • Sectoral sanctions exposure
  • Corruption (WGI) — 6.3/10
  • Voice & accountability — 5.1/10

Mitigating factors

  • Not currently on the FATF grey or black list.
  • No comprehensive country-wide sanctions programme.
  • Comparatively stronger political stability (3.7/10).
  • Risk is concentrated in specific counterparties, sectors and transactions rather than applying uniformly.

Business impact

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

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

Sanctions: Sectoral

  • EU — sectoral: Prohibiting the satisfying of certain claims in relation to transactions that have been prohibited by the UN Security Council Resolution 757(1992) and related resolutions (source)

Source details

International sanctions by issuing body

  • UN: No
  • EU: Yes (Sectoral)
  • 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: 53/100
  • Regulatory Quality: 56/100
  • Rule of Law: 54/100

Regulators and legal framework

FATF network

FATF network via MONEYVAL.

Last mutual evaluation: 2025 · report

National regulators

Regulator profiles not yet available on RegActions.

FIU: Egmont Group member (APML)

Framework signals

  • FATF listing: Not currently listed
  • International sanctions: sectoral exposure
  • BO register: Public (live since 2018)
  • Corruption (CPI 2025): 33/100, rank #116 of 182
  • Rule of law (WGI): 4.6/10 risk

Sector exposure

  • Banking & payments (Low): No FATF listing, rule-of-law governance within normal range
  • Trade & export controls (High): Sectoral sanctions: Prohibiting the satisfying of certain claims in relation to transactions that have been prohibited by the UN Security Council Resolution 757(1992) and related resolutions
  • Crypto & virtual assets (Low): No FATF listing, accountability governance within normal range
  • Real estate & luxury assets (Elevated): Elevated corruption exposure (CPI 33/100)
  • State-linked & procurement (Elevated): State-capture exposure (corruption WGI 6.3/10)

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

Serbia: analysis

Serbia's profile is driven by its governance indicators, with no FATF or sanctions overlay. The weakest domain is corruption (35% weight), reflecting persistent concerns about public procurement, political patronage, and anti-corruption enforcement. Rule of law and institutions (40% weight) indicates structural weaknesses in the judiciary and law-enforcement capacity. Voice and accountability (10% weight) is notably elevated for an EU-candidate country, pointing to concerns about media freedom and civil society space. Political stability (15% weight) is a relatively more positive contributor. Serbia sits marginally above the global median on the World Bank governance indicators. The CPI reading independently corroborates the moderate-high corruption risk. No enforcement actions are tracked.

Outlook

Serbia's EU accession process provides some structural reform pressure, but progress has been slow and the corruption and rule-of-law domains are entrenched challenges. The voice and accountability reading reflects concerns that have not improved materially in recent years. Absent a significant acceleration in EU-aligned reforms, the risk picture is likely to remain at or near its current level. Firms should apply enhanced scrutiny to Serbian counterparties, particularly in sectors associated with public procurement and state-linked enterprises.

Key watchpoints

  • Anti-corruption and judicial reform progress within EU accession conditionality, particularly chapters 23 and 24.
  • Voice and accountability trends, including developments affecting media independence and civil society.
  • Any change to FATF listing status at forthcoming plenary sessions.
  • CPI trajectory and regional financial crime dynamics in the Western Balkans.

Assessment currency

  • FATF status: Not listed (as of 19 Jun 2026)
  • Sanctions exposure: Targeted programmes in place (as of Jul 2026)
  • Governance (WGI): Latest dataset incorporated (as of 2024)
  • Corruption (CPI): 33/100 (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: 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: APML (present, as of 2026-07-17)
  • Beneficial-ownership register: Public (live since 2018) (present, as of 2026-07-17)
  • Transparency International CPI: 33/100, rank 116 (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 2025-12; base assessment 2025-12
  • 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 Serbia on the FATF grey list?

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

Is Serbia subject to sanctions?

Partly. Serbia has sectoral sanctions exposure rather than a comprehensive country-wide programme. Firms should screen applicable persons, entities and sectors against the OFAC, UK, EU and UN lists.

What is Serbia's country risk rating?

RegActions rates Serbia at 6.0/10 (High 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 Serbia 33/100 (rank #116 of 182).

What due diligence applies to Serbia?

Enhanced due diligence. This is decision-support based on Serbia'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)