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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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ESA’s Annual Report 2025 highlights digitalisation, cyber resilience under DORA, sustainable finance, and cross-sector risk monitoring as key supervisory priorities

April 24, 2026

The report outlines coordinated work by the European Supervisory Authorities on key priorities including implementation of the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), monitoring risks from financial innovation such as crypto-assets, and strengthening cross-sector supervisory convergence to ensure consistent oversight across banking, insurance and capital markets. It also highlights joint efforts to address anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing risks, enhance consumer protection against fraud and scams…

OCCRP reports the Council of Europe has criticised Switzerland for mishandling $230M linked to the Magnitsky fraud and ML case, citing weak asset safeguarding and recovery

April 24, 2026

The resolution, passed by a 43–7 vote, urges Switzerland to refreeze and recover assets linked to individuals implicated in the long-running case and to correct earlier legal and procedural shortcomings after its money laundering investigation was closed and funds were released. It also follows a Swiss Supreme Court ruling questioning earlier confiscation methods and highlights concerns that millions were transferred abroad despite frozen assets, raising broader questions about enforcement effectiveness and compliance with international anti–money laundering standards…

FCA issues ‘Handbook Notice 140’, introducing key updates including a simplified short selling regime, wider reforms to SMCR, listing rules, fees, and compensation schemes to streamline UK regulation

April 24, 2026

Key changes include the introduction of a standalone UK Short Selling Rules Sourcebook, replacing retained EU provisions with a simpler and more proportionate regime, alongside adjustments to SMCR-related requirements, listing rules, fees, and compensation arrangements. The updates also contain technical and consequential amendments across multiple modules of the Handbook, aimed at improving consistency, removing outdated EU-derived references, and reducing unnecessary complexity…

FCA publishes Cyber Coordination Group insights 2025, highlighting key lessons on strengthening cyber resilience, incident response, managing emerging technology and FC risks 

April 24, 2026

It highlights how firms can better prepare for and respond to cyber threats through more effective incident response and recovery, stronger governance and senior management oversight, improved coordination with third parties, and enhanced testing and scenario planning; it also draws attention to emerging risks such as AI, quantum computing and insider threats, while promoting good practice in identity and access management, threat detection, and operational readiness, with the overall aim of helping firms manage increasingly complex cyber…

FCA spearheaded a global crackdown with 17 regulators on illegal “finfluencers,”targeting unauthorised promotions reaching millions through coordinated enforcement and takedowns

April 24, 2026

FCA led a global crackdown involving 17 regulators to tackle illegal “finfluencers” promoting unauthorised financial products, combining enforcement actions, account takedowns, and consumer awareness efforts; in the UK, this included securing a guilty plea, launching further criminal proceedings, issuing warnings, and removing over 1,200 illegal financial adverts reaching millions, while calling on social media platforms to take greater responsibility in preventing the spread of harmful financial promotions…

FATF’s Mutual Evaluation Report of Italy 2026 reveals a sophisticated and resilient AML/CFT regime capable of tackling complex FC, but highlights gaps in enforcement, transparency, and sanctions

April 23, 2026

However, effectiveness remains uneven, with limited pursuit of simpler money laundering cases, gaps in beneficial ownership transparency, weaker supervision of non-financial sectors, and sanctions that are not sufficiently dissuasive, while ongoing exposure to organised crime continues to pose risks, leading FATF to call for stronger enforcement, greater transparency, and more consistent application of measures across all sectors…

 

FINTRAC publishes a Special Bulletin on ML indicators to help businesses detect and report ML linked to extortion schemes targeting South Asian diaspora communities in Canada

April 23, 2026

The bulletin responds to a marked increase in extortion-related activity, with financial intelligence disclosures identifying hundreds of subjects and tens of thousands of transactions linked to organised crime networks. Guidance supports reporting entities in strengthening suspicious transaction monitoring and contributes to broader AML/CFT efforts by enabling law enforcement to trace, disrupt, and dismantle extortion-related financial flows…

BIS’s paper on ‘Crypto-asset data’ reveals how suptech and advanced analytics enable real-time crypto supervision, while noting challenges in data quality, governance, and supervisory capacity

April 23, 2026

It explains how regulators are increasingly using big data, machine learning, and digital reporting tools to strengthen oversight of financial institutions. These technologies allow supervisors to detect risks earlier, analyse large and complex datasets more efficiently, and move towards more continuous, real-time supervision rather than periodic reviews. The paper highlights key use cases such as automated reporting, anomaly detection, network analysis, and risk dashboards that improve visibility into financial systems and emerging…

US Treasury and IRS are tightening oversight of non-profits through enhanced Form 990 reporting to expose hidden funding, improve transparency, and curb fraud and abuse in tax-exempt structures

April 23, 2026

The U.S. Treasury and IRS have announced a Form 990 transparency initiative to strengthen oversight of tax-exempt organisations by requiring more detailed disclosure of government grants, contracts, and fiscal sponsorship arrangements, with the aim of improving accountability, clarifying how public and donor funds are controlled and spent, and reducing risks of fraud, abuse, and hidden financial activity within nonprofit structures…

US DoJ announces a $300M funding program to strengthen nationwide efforts to prosecute fraud, drug trafficking, and other serious crimes by expanding federal–local prosecutorial capacity

April 22, 2026

The program will support state, local, tribal, and territorial prosecutors by embedding them in federal offices as Special Attorneys or Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys, enhancing coordination and investigative capacity. The initiative is designed to improve the government’s ability to tackle complex and organised criminal activity, including financial fraud and transnational drug networks, while reinforcing collaboration between federal and local law enforcement agencies…

FCA and PRA confirm reforms to streamline the Senior Managers & Certification Regime, reducing compliance burden and boosting flexibility while maintaining strong accountability to support growth

April 22, 2026

The changes make it easier for firms to comply by increasing flexibility, simplifying processes and reducing administrative costs, forming part of a broader government-led programme to cut regulatory complexity and improve competitiveness. While preserving the core principle of senior-manager accountability, the reforms include measures such as streamlined approval processes, clearer role definitions and potential future reductions in the number of roles requiring regulatory pre-approval, with further simplification planned in subsequent phases.

HMT confirms it will proceed with targeted legislative reforms to the SM&CR following consultation, aiming to simplify requirements while preserving core accountability

April 22, 2026

The response indicates broad support for reform and confirms plans to introduce more proportionate and flexible requirements, including simplifying responsibilities, reducing duplication and enabling regulators to streamline approval and reporting processes. It also signals that legislation will be brought forward to implement these changes, with further detail to follow in secondary legislation and regulator rulemaking, forming part of a wider programme to reduce administrative burden and support competitiveness in the UK financial sector.

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