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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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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…

ESAAMLG’s Mutual Evaluation Report finds Eritrea’s AML/CFT framework largely ineffective, with low risk understanding, weak enforcement, and critical gaps in supervision, financial intelligence, and international cooperation

August 28, 2025

The ESAAMLG Mutual Evaluation Report highlights that Eritrea lacks an operational Financial Intelligence Unit, effective supervision of financial institutions and DNFBPs, and coordinated AML/CFT policies, leaving the country unable to effectively detect, investigate, or prosecute ML/TF. It also notes critical deficiencies in risk assessment, customer due diligence, targeted financial sanctions, and international cooperation, resulting in minimal asset recovery and weak implementation of preventive measures.

FinCEN issues Advisory and Financial Trend Analysis highlighting how Chinese ML networks are moving cartel-linked illicit funds through U.S. banks and informal transfer channels

August 28, 2025

From January 2020 to December 2024, FinCEN analysed 137,153 Suspicious Activity Reports, identifying approximately $312 billion in suspicious transactions linked to CMLN activity. These networks exploit individuals—including students, retirees, and others with PRC passports—who may unwittingly facilitate laundering through bulk cash deposits, mirror trading, trade-based laundering, shell companies…

FCA reports nearly 5,000 scam cases impersonating as the regulator in the first half of 2025, with 480 victims defrauded through crypto, loan, romance, and “pig butchering” schemes

August 27, 2025

Scammers, often targeting people over 56, use tactics such as fake crypto wallet recoveries, loan scam follow-ups, County Court Judgement threats, and “pig butchering” romance-investment schemes to steal funds or sensitive banking information. The FCA reminds the public it will never request money or account details and urges vigilance…

Wolfsberg publishes Part II of its Statement on Effective Monitoring for Suspicious Activity, outlining a framework for FIs to responsibly adopt AI and other innovative tech in AML programs

August 27, 2025

The statement marks a clear evolution toward innovative, effective and transparent suspicious activity monitoring. It encourages FIs to responsibly transition from rigid, legacy transaction monitoring to dynamic, AI-enabled systems—with measurable effectiveness, governance, explanation, and regulatory alignment at their core…

Europol supports Spain in dismantling a migrant smuggling ring from Algeria to the EU, exposing a Hawala laundering network and seizing €1M in assets, boats, weapons, and cash

August 27, 2025

Their operations relied on significant financial and logistical resources, misusing legitimate businesses such as maritime trading companies, to procure the means of transport for the smuggling activities. Hawaladars were also used to move criminal funds. The migrant smuggling network was highly structured, with separate branches responsible for different tasks and members playing…

NCA UKFIU’s SARs in Action (Aug 2025) sheds light on how Organised Immigration Crime exploits hawala networks, offering valuable typologies to spot illicit transactions

August 27, 2025

UK authorities are intensifying efforts against Organised Immigration Crime (OIC), which exploits informal value transfer systems and sophisticated smuggling networks across Europe. Between 2019 and 2024, UKFIU recorded over 15,000 OIC-related SARs, with banks and money service businesses reporting the majority. NCA’s Op SHEETFUL exposed a UK-based OCG linked to the Kurdish Region of Iraq…

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