AML: Key Insights from the 2025 CPI and February 2026 FATF Plenary

The week of the 13 February saw two significant global governance developments which took place within days of each other: the publication of the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by Transparency International on 10 February 2026 and the conclusion of the February 2026 Plenary of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on 13 February 2026.

These developments provide important insights into the evolving global risk landscape, particularly in relation to corruption exposure, institutional resilience and AML/CFT effectiveness.

CPI 2025 Overview

The 2025 CPI assesses perceived levels of public-sector corruption across 182 jurisdictions using a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean) based on 13 independent data sources. This year’s results show a notable shift in global governance trends.

The global average declined to 42 out of 100, marking the first decrease in more than a decade. A substantial majority of jurisdictions, 122 out of 182 to be exact, now score below 50, indicating persistent corruption concerns across much of the world. Consequently on the other end of the spectrum, the number of jurisdictions scoring above 80 has continued to shrink, suggesting that high standards of public-sector integrity are becoming increasingly concentrated rather than widespread.

One of the more significant aspects of the 2025 results is that deterioration is not confined to traditionally high-risk jurisdictions. Score declines are visible across several established democracies, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada and Sweden. While these jurisdictions remain comparatively stronger performers, the direction of travel is noteworthy. The CPI shows that when democratic oversight weakens, justice systems become politicised and civil society and media face restrictions, perceived corruption levels tend to rise.

At the lower end of the index, systemic corruption risks remain deeply embedded in certain regimes, and in several jurisdictions, governance concerns have translated into social instability and protest movements. From a jurisdictional risk perspective, these developments point not only to corruption exposure, but also to broader institutional fragility and potential policy unpredictability.

How cleversoft interprets CPI results

For cleversoft’s jurisdictional risk assessment, CPI results are therefore interpreted not merely as static numerical scores, but as indicators of governance trajectory. Directional decline, erosion of institutional safeguards and restriction of oversight mechanisms are treated as qualitative signals that may increase medium to long-term risk exposure.

February 2026 FATF Plenary Outcomes

The February 2026 Plenary introduced developments directly relevant to AML/CFT risk assessment and jurisdictional classification.

The FATF added Kuwait and Papua New Guinea to its list of Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring. Both jurisdictions have made high-level political commitments to address identified strategic deficiencies and are now subject to time-bound Action Plans. The areas requiring improvement include beneficial ownership transparency, effectiveness of suspicious transaction reporting, risk-based supervision, targeted financial sanctions implementation and demonstrable increases in money laundering investigations and prosecutions.

Placement under Increased Monitoring reflects structural weaknesses in AML/CFT regimes, albeit within a cooperative remediation framework. From a jurisdictional risk perspective, such designation remains a material signal requiring enhanced scrutiny.

No new jurisdictions were added to the Call for Action list, and the suspension of the Russian Federation remains in force. The Plenary also adopted new mutual evaluation reports for Austria, Italy and Singapore under the revised assessment methodology, which places greater emphasis on measurable effectiveness outcomes rather than technical compliance alone. This evolution reinforces the importance of practical enforcement capability as a determinant of jurisdictional resilience.

In addition, the FATF advanced work on cyber-enabled fraud, offshore virtual asset service providers and stablecoins. These initiatives reflect a continued strategic focus on digital finance risks and cross-border exposure channels, areas of increasing relevance for regulated entities operating in technologically evolving environments.

Impact on cleversoft Jurisdictional Risk Scoring

The February 2026 publications of the Transparency International (CPI 2025) and the FATF (February Plenary outcomes) have now been fully reviewed and incorporated into cleversoft’s jurisdictional risk scoring matrix.

FATF-related changes

From a FATF perspective, Kuwait and Papua New Guinea were newly placed under Increased Monitoring (grey listed). However, both jurisdictions were already assessed as High Risk within cleversoft’s framework prior to the Plenary. This classification reflected previously identified structural AML/CFT vulnerabilities, developing supervisory and enforcement effectiveness, beneficial ownership transparency limitations and broader governance risk indicators. The FATF designation therefore confirms the elevated risk environment already captured in our scoring, rather than triggering a reclassification.

CPI-related changes

With respect to the CPI 2025 results, movements were generally incremental and did not reach thresholds requiring widespread rating adjustments. While the global average declined and several jurisdictions saw score deterioration, these changes were absorbed within existing scoring bands. The only material adjustment concerns Brunei, which was assessed for the first time and received a CPI score of 65. This comparatively strong result supports a recalibration from High to Medium risk within cleversoft’s model.

Both developments have now been formally reflected in our updated jurisdictional scoring framework.

Overall, the combined assessment reinforces the importance of integrating formal supervisory determinations with broader governance indicators to maintain a forward-looking and risk-based jurisdictional risk model.

cleversoft Services

Our Financial Crime Prevention Suite ensures your organization stays ahead of regulatory and geopolitical developments through real-time jurisdictional risk monitoring, comprehensive AML screening and automated regulatory alerts. We integrate updated FATF determinations and leading governance indicators, including CPI developments, into our scoring methodology equipping you with the tools needed to manage evolving cross-border risk exposures with confidence.

To learn how cleversoft can support your jurisdictional risk management framework, explore our Financial Crime Prevention Suite or contact our sales Team for further information.

Source: CPI-2025-Report-EN.pdf

Source: Outcomes FATF Plenary, 11-13 February 2026