The Financial  Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary Meeting, which was concluded on Friday, 21 June 2019, in Orlando, USA, granted the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia full Membership of the group. The Kingdom is the first Arab country to obtain the membership.

The FATF agreed to grant the Kingdom observer status in the Group in June 2015 in recognition of the significant role played by the Kingdom in the region in the field of combating money laundering and financing of terrorism and proliferation.

The Kingdom's accession to the FATF after the conclusion of the mutual evaluation process, one of the main requirements for obtaining full membership, which was conducted by the FATF during 2017-2018 in participation with the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFAT). The findings of the assessment process have revealed the high level of compliance and effectiveness of the control measures of the AML/CFT.