What FATF recommendations actually require
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The Financial Action Task Force, usually known by its acronym FATF, sets international standards for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, which corruption cases frequently intersect with once stolen funds need to be moved and disguised. Its recommendations are not binding treaty law, but most countries treat them as an effective baseline.
Core requirements include identifying customers properly before opening financial accounts, reporting suspicious transactions to a national authority, and maintaining transparency around who actually owns and controls a company rather than merely who is listed on paper. This last requirement, beneficial ownership transparency, has become increasingly central as shell companies keep growing more sophisticated.
Countries that fail to meet these standards can be placed on watchlists that make their financial systems more expensive or difficult to deal with internationally, which creates a real incentive for compliance beyond goodwill alone. In this way, FATF standards shape everyday banking rules well beyond the corruption cases that originally justified them.