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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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White House releases its National Policy Framework for AI, calling on Congress to set a unified national standard that protects rights, drives innovation, protects communities, and counters AI-enabled risks

March 20, 2026

It sets out key priorities including protecting children online and empowering parents, safeguarding communities, addressing intellectual property in AI training, protecting free speech, promoting innovation and U.S. AI leadership, and AI workforce development, while also calling for federal preemption of burdensome state AI laws to establish a single national standard and avoid a fragmented regulatory landscape…

Swiss authorities approve the National Strategy on Combating ML and TF to enhance oversight, target illicit financial flows, seize criminal assets, tackle virtual currency threats, and boost global cooperation

March 20, 2026

The strategy strengthens prevention and supervision through risk-based oversight, enhanced transparency, and a beneficial ownership register, improves investigation, prosecution, and punishment by boosting financial intelligence and law enforcement coordination, and enhances asset recovery to seize and return criminal proceeds. It also targets terrorist financing, addresses emerging threats like virtual assets, and emphasizes international and private-sector cooperation to ensure a coordinated, modern approach to evolving financial crime risks…

Europol, supporting Operation Alice, leads a major global cybercrime crackdown, dismantling over 373,000 dark web sites trafficking illegal services from child abuse material to hacking tools and fraud

March 20, 2026

The operation, coordinated with law enforcement from 23 countries, led to the seizure of servers, electronic devices, and digital evidence, while identifying the alleged operator — a 35-year-old based in China — as well as hundreds of users engaged in illegal activities. This unprecedented action disrupted one of the largest and most complex dark web infrastructures ever targeted, highlighting the global scale of cybercrime and the critical importance of coordinated international law enforcement efforts…

MAS partners with industry under Project MindForge to launch a practical AI Risk Management Toolkit, helping FIs turn principles into action and safely harness advanced AI while driving innovation

March 20, 2026

Developed under Project MindForge with a consortium of 24 financial institutions and industry partners, the toolkit provides practical guidance for managing risks across traditional AI, generative AI and emerging agentic systems, including an operational handbook and real-world case studies. MAS also plans to establish an industry workgroup to update the toolkit and promote knowledge-sharing, reinforcing supervisory expectations on governance, risk assessment and lifecycle controls to ensure responsible AI adoption in financial services…

UAE dismantles a Hezbollah- and Iran-linked network that used front companies for ML and TF, underscoring its zero-tolerance stance on threats to financial integrity and national security

March 20, 2026

Authorities revealed that the group coordinated with external actors, exploited legitimate business structures, and attempted to infiltrate the financial system to move and disguise funds linked to sanctioned entities. The crackdown highlights the UAE’s intensified efforts to combat financial crime and terrorism financing, with officials reaffirming a zero-tolerance approach and warning that any attempts to undermine national security or financial integrity will be met with strict enforcement…

FCA highlights rising risks from unregulated lenders and ‘Annex 1’ firms, warning that limited oversight, weak transparency, and gaps in consumer protection demand far stronger DD from regulated firms

March 20, 2026

The FCA highlights that some regulated firms are increasingly interacting with or referring customers to these entities, often without fully assessing the risks, which can expose consumers to complex, opaque, and potentially harmful lending arrangements. It also notes weaknesses in AML controls, limited transparency, and the regulator’s restricted powers over such firms, making oversight more challenging. As a result, the FCA is urging regulated firms to strengthen their due diligence processes—verifying FCA registration, independently validating information, understanding the nature of the business…

Austria’s FMA fines Notartreuhandbank AG €127,500 for serious AML failings, citing weak controls, poor client monitoring, and inadequate fund documentation

March 18, 2026

The FMA found that the bank failed to properly assess and mitigate risks associated with certain accounts, undermining transparency and compliance with the Financial Markets Anti‑Money Laundering Act. The penalty underscores the regulator’s commitment to enforcing robust AML frameworks, while highlighting the reputational and operational consequences for institutions that neglect risk-based due diligence, though the bank retains the right to appeal….

UK moves to dissolve Zedxion Exchange Ltd, a crypto platform accused of funneling funds to Iran’s IRGC, after investigations revealed fake registrations and transactions enabling sanctions evasion 

March 18, 2026

An OCCRP investigation revealed that the exchange used false registration details and a fictitious director to obscure its connections to sanctioned individuals, enabling it to operate under the radar of UK authorities. This move follows U.S. sanctions targeting Zedxion and its affiliated firm for allegedly handling wallets tied to the IRGC. Blockchain analysis indicates that the platform processed substantial funds for networks linked to Iran, highlighting how crypto exchanges can be exploited to evade sanctions and finance illicit activity…

FINTRAC revokes 23 crypto MSBs registrations in a major crackdown on non-compliant exchanges, ATMs, and foreign operators to tighten anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist financing controls

March 18, 2026

The action targets firms that failed to comply with regulatory obligations, including responding to information requests, maintaining up-to-date records, and meeting registration requirements. The move affects crypto exchanges, ATMs, and foreign operators, highlighting the government’s intensified efforts to curb illicit finance in the rapidly growing digital asset sector and signal stricter enforcement for businesses that fail to adhere to AML and counter-terrorist…

ECB reports in its SSM Annual Report 2025 that EU banks remain resilient but face growing risks from geopolitics, digital transformation and operational vulnerabilities

March 18, 2026

The report reviews supervisory activity across the Banking Union, noting strong profitability and broadly stable asset quality, while identifying emerging risks in areas such as commercial real estate, cyber resilience and reliance on complex IT systems. It also sets out supervisory priorities focused on strengthening banks’ resilience to macro-financial shocks, addressing persistent governance and risk-management weaknesses, and enhancing oversight of digitalisation and new technologies across the sector.

Europol coordinates its largest Referral Action Day, targeting terrorist audio propaganda across 40 platforms, flagging 17,000+ links with 77 % removed, exposing the rise of audio in online radicalisation

March 18, 2026

The operation, led by Europol’s European Counter Terrorism Centre and supported by partner countries and online service providers, focused specifically on audio material such as chants, speeches and nasheeds used by terrorist groups to spread ideology and attract followers. Authorities reviewed and referred large volumes of content for removal, highlighting the growing use of audio propaganda by extremist networks and the importance of public-private cooperation to limit its dissemination across digital platforms…

FATF warns at the 2026 Global Fraud Summit that fraud is now a global, tech-driven criminal economy and urges using its AML toolkit to tackle digital payments and cross-border threats

March 18, 2026

FATF highlighted that tackling this surge requires practical use of its AML toolkit, including rapid transaction freezing, beneficial ownership transparency, virtual asset tracing, and stronger public-private information sharing, underscoring the need for coordinated global action to effectively disrupt increasingly organised fraud networks. To encourage concrete action to respond to these growing threats, the FATF hosted a side event Stopping Fraud with the FATF Anti-Money Laundering Toolkit, moderated by FATF Vice President, Giles Thomson…

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