The UK ML/TF National Risk Assessment 2025 dropped last week and is a welcome update on those reported in 2015, 2017 and 2020. The NRA runs to 163 pages and provides a summary of the main ML & TF threats and trends since 2020 as well as summarising the most vulnerable sectors and highlights some interesting cross cutting issues. 1. Money Laundering: The main ML related threats are identified as being the “common predicate offences that generate criminal funds” and “harms” since 2020 ...| Financial Crime News
At the ACAMS Effectiveness webinar held on 16th July, 2025, this topic was discussed from different perspectives in the fight against financial crime including money laundering. Whilst we have explored much in terms of effectiveness, we still don’t have a clear consistent & common purpose for those involved. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of people & maybe more. Stakeholder effectiveness has been developed, for example by the Wolfsberg Group for Financial Institutions and by the...| Financial Crime News
The FATF published a 134 page Report on TF risks which follows its previous comprehensive TF update in 2015. FCN have published a 2 page high level summary of this report. This report will assist both public and private sectors improve their responses, as effectiveness ratings for IO9 (Investigations and prosecutions of TF offences) & IO10 (Prevention of TO activities including TF raising storing moving & using funds including related to NP0s). Results as at mid 2025 from 197 countries as...| Financial Crime News
The Financial Conduct Authority announced fines of £21 million against UK Challenger Bank for serious AML weaknesses between 2018 and 2020. This follows a fine against Starling Bank for £28 million also a UK Challenger bank last year. The FCA found that, key elements of Monzo’s financial crime framework particularly with regard to customer risk assessments and the collection of customer information did not keep pace with the Firms expansion and during the VREQ period. FCA considers that...| Financial Crime News
The FATF published updated payment transparency standards following their approval in June 2025, after a few years of consultation. The hard work to reach agreement has to be recognised and in particular the work of FATF’s Policy Development Group led by Co Chairs Takahide Habuchi & Elad Weider This initiative may well have been one of the toughest tasks FATF has undertaken and 2 consultations reflect the challenges involved, but also the wider environment. After many years a FATF com...| Financial Crime News
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) have just released a new report on Complex Proliferation Finance and Sanctions Evasion Schemes. Clearly topical and despite FATF’s mandate limited to UN sanctions this is by extension a back door way of also applying FATF expectations on UN approved sanctions compliance to other sanctions compliance expectations. Compliance with FATF Recommendation 7 and Immediate Outcome 11, from 194 countries needs significant improvement so findings from this report...| Financial Crime News
1. Introduction Today Financial Crime News is publishing a Financial Crime Dashboard (see Annex 1) for Latvia and a summary of the progress made, a week after the new Moneyval report for Latvia was discussed at the joint FATF Moneyval Meeting and is said to be positive. Nevertheless, we will have to wait until Q4 2025 as Latvia is the first country to be assessed under the 6th round of country evaluations so it will go through a full quality check. For the avoidance of any doubt, FCN has not ...| Financial Crime News
Today Financial Crime News is publishing an updated Financial Crime Dashboard on Singapore after spending a few weeks meeting many financial crime leaders in the city state, and just ahead of the FATF assessors coming to town for their 5th round onsite. See: FCN Singapore Dashboard June25Pbd The last full FATF evaluation was published in 2016 with a follow up report in 2019 so a lot has changed since then, both in terms of the threat and the response. See for 2016 & See for 2019: The last FA...| Financial Crime News
The UAE ML/TF Risk Assessment 2024 dropped last week and it’s a very big improvement on those prior NRA extracts reported in 2019 and 2021. The UAE has been through a lot during this period, including being added and then removed from FATF’s Grey List. FCN has reported on the journey the UAE has been on including reporting on improvements made, which suggest where genuine political commitment to make improvements in combatting financial crime and money laundering are real a lot can be ach...| Financial Crime News
Scams made the front cover of the Economist’s Feb 8, 2025 edition titled “Scam Inc”. It claims, “every year US$500bn is stolen in online scams” and now it “rivals the international drugs trade”. The source is an “expert in Chinese organised crime who was a police officer in Hong Kong for 11 years. That puts scamming on a par with the illegal drugs trade as one of the world’s biggest illicit industries”. The source named in the piece is well credentialed but he left the HK ...| Financial Crime News
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AML and Sanctions related Major fines (exceeding US$10 million) reached US$45.679 billion for the 21st Century (2000 – end 2024). 85 AML related fines generated...| Financial Crime News