Syria — Country Risk Report

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

Very high country risk, with elevated corruption risk. Syria's country risk score is 7.0/10, placing it in the very high-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 corruption, alongside rule of law and institutions risk. Syria is subject to FATF increased monitoring. Syria 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: Grey list (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: 7.8/10
• Corruption (CPI 2025): 15/100, rank #172 of 182
• Enforcement data: not yet assessed (no RegActions coverage)

Country Risk Score: 7.0/10 (Very high)

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: 7.8/10 — 60% of this score
• International sanctions: 5.9/10 — 40% of this score
• Financial crime controls information is unavailable.
• FATF grey-list status sets a minimum of 6.0, but the calculated score was already higher.
• sector-wide international sanctions sets a minimum of 6.0, but the calculated score was already higher.

Principal risk drivers

• FATF increased-monitoring status
• Sectoral sanctions exposure
• Corruption (WGI) — 8.7/10
• Rule of law & institutions — 7.7/10
• Political stability — 7.5/10

Mitigating factors

• No comprehensive country-wide sanctions programme.
• Risk is concentrated in specific counterparties, sectors and transactions rather than applying uniformly.

Business impact

• Customer onboarding (Enhanced): Additional ownership and control verification may be required.
• Payments and transactions (Enhanced): Review transaction purpose, counterparties and geographic 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): 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: Grey list

Jurisdiction Under Increased Monitoring. Last reviewed 19 Jun 2026; next FATF plenary Oct 2026.

Sanctions: Sectoral

• EU — sectoral: Restrictive measures against Syria (source)
• EU — targeted: Restrictive measures in relation to the 14 February 2005 terrorist bombing in Beirut, Lebanon (source)
• OFAC — targeted: Promoting Accountability for Assad and Regional Stabilization Sanctions (source)
• UK — sectoral: Syria cultural property sanctions (source)
• UK — sectoral: Syria sanctions (source)

Source details

International sanctions by issuing body

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

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: 19/100
• Regulatory Quality: 23/100
• Rule of Law: 26/100

Regulators and legal framework

FATF network

FATF network via MENAFATF.

• Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force

National regulators

Regulator profiles not yet available on RegActions.

FIU: Egmont Group member (CMLC)

Framework signals

• FATF listing: Grey list
• International sanctions: sectoral exposure
• Corruption (CPI 2025): 15/100, rank #172 of 182
• Rule of law (WGI): 7.7/10 risk

Sector exposure

• Banking & payments (Elevated): FATF grey-list status elevates correspondent-banking risk
• Trade & export controls (High): Sectoral sanctions: Restrictive measures against Syria
• Crypto & virtual assets (Elevated): FATF grey-list VASP supervision gaps raise virtual-asset risk
• Real estate & luxury assets (High): Severe corruption exposure (CPI 15/100) drives laundering risk
• State-linked & procurement (High): High state-capture risk (corruption WGI 8.7/10)

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

Syria: analysis

Syria's profile combines a severely weak governance picture with FATF grey listing and a comprehensive sanctions regime. Every governance domain is severely impaired. Corruption risk (severe) is the highest individual domain reading, consistent with a very weak CPI reading. Rule of law (severe), political stability (severe), and voice and accountability (severe) are all critically elevated. Syria sits in the lowest quartile of the World Bank governance indicators. Comprehensive OFAC sanctions and targeted EU and UK measures mean that virtually all financial activity involving Syria requires specific legal authorisation.

Outlook

Syria's risk profile is unlikely to improve materially without a fundamental change in the political and security situation, coupled with international sanctions relief and reconstruction of governance institutions. FATF grey-list status adds a further layer of AML/CFT concern. Firms should treat Syria as a jurisdiction requiring the highest level of caution; routine business relationships are effectively precluded by the sanctions regime.

Key watchpoints

• OFAC, EU, and UK sanctions developments, including any easing or tightening of comprehensive measures.
• FATF grey-list status and any update at the October 2026 plenary.
• Political and security situation developments that might affect governance institution rebuilding.
• Sanctions-evasion risks through third-country routing, particularly involving neighbouring jurisdictions.

Assessment currency

• FATF status: Increased monitoring (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): 15/100 (as of 2025)
• RegActions assessment: Reviewed (as of 19 Jun 2026)

Public evidence layer

FATF action: increased monitoring. FATF identifies the jurisdiction as under increased monitoring; apply the firm's risk-based controls and monitor remediation progress.

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: CMLC (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: 15/100, rank 172 (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
• 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

• Iran: 9.0/10 (Very high)
• Yemen: 7.0/10 (Very high)
• Lebanon: 6.1/10 (High)
• Iraq: 6.0/10 (High)
• Kuwait: 6.0/10 (High)
• Jordan: 4.4/10 (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)