United States — Country Risk Report

United States (Americas • North America). Risk report as of the 19 Jun 2026 FATF plenary.

Low country risk. United States's country risk score is 2.5/10, placing it in the low-risk band. The principal driver is weak political stability. United States is not currently FATF grey- or black-listed. United States is not subject to comprehensive country-wide sanctions.

Recommended treatment

Standard 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: possible, screen applicable persons, entities and sectors
  • Government effectiveness and rule of law: 2.8/10
  • Corruption (CPI 2025): 64/100, rank #29 of 182
  • Enforcement: 25,502 actions from 6 regulators

Country Risk Score: 2.5/10 (Low)

Higher score means higher country risk (global average 4.6). Full information available. Limited supporting information. 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: 3.4/10 — 50% of this score
  • Government effectiveness and rule of law: 2.8/10 — 30% of this score
  • International sanctions: 0.0/10 — 20% of this score
  • The FATF assessment is more than eight years old.

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 3.4 × 50% + governance 2.8 × 30% + sanctions 0 × 20% = 2.5; final 2.5

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.
  • Comparatively stronger rule of law and institutions (2.4/10).
  • Overall governance and institutional quality are relatively strong.

Business impact

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

United States 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: 78/100
  • Regulatory Quality: 76/100
  • Rule of Law: 74/100

Enforcement activity

RegActions tracks 25,502 enforcement actions from 6 regulators in United States.

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

Regulators and legal framework

FATF network

FATF member.

Last mutual evaluation: 2016 · report

National regulators

FIU: Egmont Group member (FinCEN)

Framework signals

  • FATF listing: Not currently listed
  • International sanctions: no listed programme identified
  • BO register: Restricted (live since 2024)
  • Corruption (CPI 2025): 64/100, rank #29 of 182
  • Rule of law (WGI): 2.4/10 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 (Low): Corruption indicators within normal range for high-value assets
  • State-linked & procurement (Low): Political-stability and corruption governance within normal range

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

United States: analysis

The United States has strong governance across all four domains. Rule of law (strong) is the best-performing domain, followed by corruption (strong) and voice and accountability (strong). Political stability (moderate) is the relatively weakest domain but still low risk. The CPI reading reinforces the low-corruption assessment. No FATF or sanctions overlay applies. The US sits in the upper tier of the World Bank governance indicators. Enforcement activity is extensive, with 11,481 tracked actions across OCC, FINRA, SEC and FinCEN, reflecting a mature and assertive supervisory culture.

Outlook

The United States is expected to maintain its low-risk standing. The primary forward risk relates to the pace and direction of regulatory change and the continued effectiveness of enforcement. Political stability, while the comparatively weakest governance domain, does not materially alter the low-risk assessment. Firms should track regulatory developments and enforcement priorities across the four active regulators.

Key watchpoints

  • Regulatory and legislative changes affecting AML, sanctions and securities frameworks.
  • Enforcement trends across OCC, FINRA, SEC and FinCEN, particularly in AML and sanctions compliance.
  • Political developments affecting the independence and resourcing of financial regulators.
  • Changes in CPI or WGI scores, though any deterioration from current strong levels would be significant.

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): 64/100 (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: Direct FATF member (present, as of 2026-07)
  • EU non-cooperative tax jurisdictions: Not listed in Annex I (absent, as of 2026-02-17)
  • Egmont Group FIU: FinCEN (present, as of 2026-07-17)
  • Beneficial-ownership register: Restricted (live since 2024) (present, as of 2026-07-17)
  • Transparency International CPI: 64/100, rank 29 (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 2024-03; base assessment 2016-12
  • 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

FAQ

Is United States on the FATF grey list?

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

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

What is United States's country risk rating?

RegActions rates United States at 2.5/10 (Low 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 United States 64/100 (rank #29 of 182).

What due diligence applies to United States?

Standard due diligence. This is decision-support based on United States's FATF status, governance and sanctions signals, and is not a substitute for a firm's own risk assessment.

How much enforcement activity is tracked for United States?

RegActions tracks 25,502 enforcement actions from 6 regulators in United States. Enforcement volume measures regulator activity, not country risk, so it is shown as evidence but never fed into the RegActions Country Risk Score.

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)