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Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing

Over 20 years of articles and reference material

A page dedicated to global, regional, UK and US anti-money laundering developments and initiatives.

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Netherlands FIOD develops an AI-powered chatbot to assist financial crime investigators in efficiently processing large volumes of data and interpreting relevant laws and regulations

September 6, 2025

According to FIOD’s 2024 annual report, the chatbot aids in investigative procedures by answering procedural questions, interpreting laws and regulations, and referencing pertinent case law. Additionally, FIOD is exploring other AI applications, such as tools to analyze extensive communication data from seized devices, identifying connections that might be overlooked in manual analyses…

Swiss FINMA’s ‘Guidance on Disclosure of Crypto-Based Assets’ clarifies that banks must report them as custody assets, and not fiduciary transactions in their annual financial statements

September 5, 2025

FINMA publishes an oversight communication clarifying the disclosure of crypto-based assets in banks’ annual financial statements under its Guidance 03/2025. It confirms that previous disclosure obligations remain in force, allows banks pragmatic flexibility in presentation, and removes the requirement to report fiduciary-held cryptocurrencies in supervisory reporting while continuing to collect data via a dedicated EHP survey…

FinCEN new Guidance encourages voluntary cross-border information sharing among FIs to better combat ML/TF, and fraud, while clarifying that SARs cannot be shared

September 5, 2025

The guidance clarifies that while SARs and related disclosures remain prohibited under the Bank Secrecy Act, institutions may share underlying transaction records, customer data, and other non-SAR information to strengthen detection of illicit finance. It also emphasises that such cross-border sharing is voluntary and creates no new regulatory obligations…

FATF’s President Elisa de Anda puts Shell Companies on notice: reform or face FATF scrutiny

September 5, 2025

FATF has urged governments to strengthen transparency around shell companies, warning that continued opacity may lead to international censure. FATF President Elisa de Anda Madrazo described anonymous legal entities as the “getaway car” for money laundering and sanctions evasion, highlighting their role in concealing illicit financial flows. Her remarks coincide with the launch of FATF’s latest round of mutual evaluations, which will place greater scrutiny on national systems for identifying and verifying beneficial ownership…

TRACFIN’s (France FIU) 2024 Annual Report highlights 3,998 intelligence reports shared with partners and 59 consolidated alerts issued on 12,079 entities, demonstrating a robust effort to combat ML/TF

September 5, 2025

The agency transmitted 3,998 intelligence reports to its partners, marking a 9.6% increase from the previous year. Additionally, Tracfin issued 59 consolidated alerts targeting 12,079 entities, up from 25 alerts on 5,053 entities in 2023. These efforts align with Tracfin’s core missions: combating money laundering from criminal sources, identifying threats to public finances, and countering terrorist financing…

UK-UAE issue joint statement after bilateral meeting, reaffirming their partnership and strengthening cooperation to combat illicit finance, including ML, fraud and other FC

September 4, 2025

The discussions aimed to deepen collaboration on strategic priorities, enhance bilateral dialogue, and facilitate the exchange of best practices and information across regulatory, supervisory, law enforcement, and judicial domains. Minister Dan Jarvis emphasized the importance of cross-border cooperation in tackling illicit finance, stating that the engagement with the UAE marks a significant step in joint efforts…

HMT consults on draft 2025 ML/TF Regulations, proposing enhanced CDD, revised pooled a/c, trust rules, and cryptoasset oversight, with feedback by 30 Sept 25

September 2, 2025

The draft regulations clarify requirements for pooled client accounts, trust registration, and customer due diligence, aiming to make compliance more practical for firms while maintaining robust protections against financial crime. Stakeholders are invited to provide feedback by 30 September 2025 to ensure the final instrument effectively addresses operational challenges and evolving AML/CTF risks…

UK’s Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 strengthens financial crime controls by improving regulators’ access to data, tightening digital ID checks, and facilitating secure intelligence sharing

September 2, 2025

The UK’s new Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 is now law, strengthening the country’s financial crime framework. The legislation gives regulators faster access to customer and business data, introduces stricter digital ID checks and signature requirements, and establishes secure channels for information sharing between banks, regulators…

UK’s Economic Crime Plan 2: Progress Report shows SARs drove £230.4M to asset denials in 2023, ML prosecutions rose 36 % (6,845) and convictions 7 % in 2024, while illicit finance disruptions grew 3 % to 2,050 

September 2, 2025

UK’s latest Economic Crime Plan 2: outcomes progress report indicates a rise in SARs’ contribution to asset denials (to £230.4 million in the financial year ending 2023) and law enforcement disruptions for fraud, although overall conviction figures for money laundering remain mixed and total asset recovery fell by 29% in the same period. The update highlights increased fraud offences, with 4.16 million cases estimated in the year ending March 2025, a 31% increase…

FATF launches a ML NRA Toolkit to help countries identify and address key ML risks, focusing on high-risk areas – corruption, virtual assets, opaque structures, and informal channels 

September 1, 2025

This toolkit provides countries with cross-country risk insights, such as proceeds of crime estimates and most common types of predicate offences and money laundering on a domestic and international level, to help governments and the private sector address the highest risks to ensure that crime does not pay. The toolkit highlights the international, cross-border nature of money laundering…

UK’s new ‘Failure to Prevent Fraud’ offence takes effect 1 Sept 2025 – making organisations liable if an employee, agent, subsidiary, or other third party commits fraud for their benefit

September 1, 2025

This legislation holds large organisations criminally liable if employees, agents, subsidiaries, or other associated persons commit fraud intending to benefit the organisation. Examples include dishonest sales practices, withholding critical information from consumers or investors, and misconduct in financial markets. Organisations must now demonstrate they had reasonable fraud prevention…

AUSTRAC’s new AML/CTF Rules 2025, effective in phases from 31 March and 1 July 2026, strengthen obligations for reporting entities and new sectors, boosting efforts to detect and combat ML/TF risks

August 29, 2025

The rules will be implemented in phases: 31 March 2026: Changes to AML/CTF obligations commence for current reporting entities, excluding threshold transaction reporting and suspicious matter reporting, which will remain unchanged until 2029. 31 March 2026: Enrolment opens for newly regulated sectors (tranche 2). 1 July 2026: AML/CTF obligations begin for tranche 2 entities…

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