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Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing

Europe

This section covers AML/CTF initiatives by European Commission, Council of Europe MONEYVAL, European Parliament, Europol and other related EU organisations.

New EU AML Package
Sixth EU ML Directive
Fifth EU ML Directive 
Fourth EU ML Directive 
Third EU ML Directive
European Commission Financial Crime
European Parliament Committee on Organised Crime, Corruption and ML
European Banking Federation Annual Overview of AML legislative measures
Europol Law Enforcement updates
MONEYVAL Evaluations
MONEYVAL Typologies

And many more…

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EBA’s ESG Risk Dashboard update shows stable climate risk indicators for nearly 120 EU/EEA banks, with improved data quality and transparency, strengthening compliance and risk controls 

February 18, 2026

While banks’ exposures to climate-sensitive sectors remain high at around 62%, improvements in ESG data quality are evident, including better energy efficiency scores for property-backed exposures and a 10-percentage-point reduction in reliance on proxy indicators. Physical risk metrics still vary across jurisdictions due to methodological differences. The dashboard has also been integrated into the EBA Data Access Portal (EDAP), enhancing transparency and accessibility of supervisory climate-risk data…

AMLA Chair Bruna Szego, in her Il Sole 24 Ore Interview, outlines plans for a unified, risk-based framework to oversee high-risk institutions, guide non-financial sectors, and tighten defenses against ML/TF

February 17, 2026

The authority will directly supervise the highest-risk financial institutions—including banks, insurers, asset managers, and crypto-asset service providers—while guiding national authorities on non-financial sectors such as lawyers, notaries, real estate agents, and high-value goods dealers. AMLA’s comprehensive risk model captures both large money laundering flows and smaller transactions linked to terrorist financing, and its harmonized rules and supervisory guidelines aim to simplify compliance, enhance cross-border oversight…

GITOC’s 2026 report on Europe’s Illicit Tobacco Trade reveals that organised crime is rapidly shifting to local production, online sales, and new nicotine products, outpacing enforcement

February 16, 2026

The Smoke Rings report explains how disruptions from the pandemic, war and sanctions reshaped Europe’s illicit cigarette market, with domestic “guerrilla” factories producing much of the illicit supply and traditional Eastern European sources adapting to changing conditions. It documents evolving trafficking routes, diversified smuggling techniques (from drones to transshipment hubs), rising digital sales and the multifaceted harms of the illicit market, from tax loss to exploitation and organised-crime financing…

Luxembourg CSSF launches a standardised AML/CFT data collection exercise using AMLA templates, requiring FIs and VASPs to submit their 2025 risk questionnaires by 15 Apr 2026, streamlining reporting

February 12, 2026

This approach reduces reporting burden, ensures consistency, and supports preparation for the new common EU AML/CFT supervision methodology. Entities selected for AMLA’s 2026 calibration exercise must report specific quantitative and qualitative risk data to the CSSF by 15 April 2026 through the CSSF’s eDesk platform. Other supervised entities (except specialised professionals) will also use the AMLA templates to report on 2025 ML/TF risks and mitigation measures starting 2 March 2026…

EC launches a public consultation and call for evidence to boost EU banking competitiveness, seeking input on performance, financing capacity, and regulatory framework simplification – 12 Mar & 19 Apr 2026

February 11, 2026

Building on a decade of reforms that strengthened bank resilience and financial stability, the initiative aims to ensure banks play a stronger role in supporting growth, innovation, and investment. Feedback will inform the Commission’s 2026 report under the Savings and Investments Union (SIU) strategy, with Commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque stressing that resilience must now be matched by greater competitiveness, simpler rules, and stronger cross-border activity…

MONEYVAL’s Typologies Report on Virtual Assets and VASPs warns that weak enforcement, uneven Travel Rule adoption, growing use of crypto for sanctions evasion leave the sector exposed to FC

February 10, 2026

The report finds that while most MONEYVAL member jurisdictions have made substantial progress in regulating and supervising virtual asset service providers (VASPs)—with around 81% requiring licensing/registration and over 90% designating supervisors—significant weaknesses persist in enforcement, Travel Rule implementation (operational in only about 46% of jurisdictions), data quality, and action against unlicensed operators. It highlights growing risks of virtual assets being used for money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions evasion…

Europol coordinates a cross-border takedown of a South America–to–Iceland cocaine pipeline, exposing a network that preyed on vulnerable mules and laundered profits through Lithuanian real estate

February 10, 2026

New video outlines how authorities uncovered and broke up a criminal syndicate that transported large quantities of cocaine from South America into Europe and on to Iceland, using maritime and air routes to move the illicit drugs. The network increasingly adapted concealment methods to evade detection and relied heavily on vulnerable drug mules to transport cocaine in luggage, internally or in liquid form…

Council of Europe’s GRETA report urges Latvia to step up its fight against human trafficking by improving victim support, toughening prosecutions, tackling labour exploitation & ICT‑facilitated abuse

February 6, 2026

GRETA highlights that labour exploitation remains the most common form of trafficking and that vulnerable groups such as children leaving institutional care, women and girls in prostitution, migrant workers, Roma communities, asylum seekers, people with disabilities and homeless persons face heightened risk. The report calls on Latvian authorities to improve victim identification and referral to support services, enhance state‑funded assistance regardless of cooperation with prosecutions, and strengthen judicial and police capacity…

AMLA sets strategic priorities with its 2026–28 Single Programming Document, focusing on the EU’s AML Single Rulebook, supervisory convergence, and stronger FIU cooperation

February 4, 2026

The plan focuses on three strategic priorities: completing the EU AML/CFT Single Rulebook, strengthening supervisory convergence across Member States, and improving cooperation between FIUs. Key activities for 2026 include delivering regulatory mandates, launching direct supervision, operationalising the FIU framework, building indirect supervision and oversight mechanisms, and developing AMLA’s risk-based supervisory frameworks. The Authority is also scaling up significantly — expanding staff and IT infrastructure…

MONEYVAL’s 2025 Evaluation Report praises Serbia’s AML/CFT progress but flags gaps in supervision, financial intelligence use, BO transparency and asset recovery, prompting a 3-year follow-up plan

February 4, 2026

MONEYVAL’s report acknowledges progress in Serbia’s understanding of money-laundering and terrorist-financing risks, improved national risk assessment processes, and more proactive investigation and prosecution of predicate offences. However, the body identifies continuing weaknesses in how financial supervisors apply risk-based approaches and in authorities’ ability to turn financial intelligence into effective action, and calls for further targeted reforms to strengthen overall AML/CFT effectiveness…

EPPO seizes a clandestine cigarette factory in Italy with over 21.5 tonnes of tobacco and finished cigarettes, uncovering a multimillion‑euro smuggling and counterfeiting operation

February 3, 2026

EPPO’s investigation uncovered a large-scale illicit tobacco production site in Italy, leading to the seizure of the facility and more than 215 tonnes of unregistered tobacco and finished cigarettes—items linked to tax evasion and organised criminal networks exploiting the EU single market. The action reflects EPPO’s expanding operational role in combating cross-border economic crime that drains public revenues and supports organised crime activities…

Europol backs French authorities in a major probe into Platform X over deepfakes, child sexual abuse material, and other illegal content, exposing cross-border challenges of tackling cybercrime

February 3, 2026

The probe, which began in January 2025, involves searches of X’s French offices and examines suspected offences such as algorithm manipulation, dissemination and storage of illegal content—including child sexual abuse material and AI-generated deepfakes—and misuse of automated data systems. Europol’s involvement underscores the cross-border nature of the case and strengthens French efforts to address potential cybercrime and content-related violations by the platform…

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