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Qatar is placing greater emphasis on risk-based anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing controls within the country's non-profit sector, as authorities seek to strengthen the protection of charitable organisations from financial crime while ensuring that legitimate humanitarian activities can continue without unnecessary disruption. The Regulatory Authority for Charitable Activities organised a dedicated forum to examine the implications of the latest update to

Ukraine's state-owned Sense Bank has become the focus of a major money-laundering investigation involving allegations that approximately UAH 150 million, equivalent to around $3.4 million, was moved through the banking system as part of a scheme connected to a wider corruption investigation. The allegations have triggered significant action against senior figures at the bank and renewed questions about the effectiveness of its anti-money laundering controls, governance and st

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has announced a new round of sanctions targeting individuals, companies and networks connected with Russia, reinforcing Washington’s continued use of financial restrictions to limit activities considered to support the Russian state and its strategic interests. The measures form part of the broader U.S. sanctions framework directed at Russia and underline the continuing importance of sanctions scree

Australia's financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC has uncovered potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in suspected mortgage fraud across 10 major Australian banks, exposing significant weaknesses in the country's lending sector. The findings emerged from Operation Claw, a joint analysis conducted through AUSTRAC's Fintel Alliance, which brought together data from 10 major lenders to identify patterns that may not have been visible within individual institutions. Most of

Ukraine has expanded its autonomous sanctions regime against Russia, adding 87 individuals and 54 entities to its sanctions list in a coordinated series of measures approved by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The measures were introduced through four presidential decrees and target individuals and companies connected with Russia and activities considered to support or facilitate Russian interests. The latest additions bring a further layer of pressure to Ukraine's expanding sa

Hungarian authorities have closed a money laundering investigation involving employees of Ukraine's state-owned Oschadbank after determining that there was no evidence of a criminal offence. The decision brings an end to a case that began with the detention of seven Ukrainian cash-in-transit employees and the seizure of a substantial shipment of cash and gold in Hungary earlier this year. The investigation was conducted by Hungary's National Tax and Customs Administration, kn

Hong Kong Customs has uncovered a suspected money laundering operation involving approximately HK$35 million in suspected criminal proceeds following a financial investigation connected to an earlier narcotics case. Two local men, both aged 33, have been arrested in connection with the alleged laundering activity. The investigation began after Customs officers uncovered a dangerous drugs case in August 2025 involving drugs with an estimated value of approximately HK$8.3 milli

German prosecutors have brought charges against nine people accused of participating in an international fraud network that allegedly obtained and misused the payment card details of more than three million people across 193 countries. The investigation, known as “Operation Chargeback”, uncovered an extensive scheme involving fraudulent subscription websites, unauthorised credit card charges, money laundering and the alleged infiltration of Germany’s payment infrastructure. T

KPMG Australia has confirmed that it reached a settlement with a former employee who had raised allegations of wrongdoing within the firm's tax division, adding another layer to the growing scrutiny surrounding the professional services firm's governance, whistleblower processes and treatment of misconduct allegations. The settlement relates to historical allegations concerning KPMG Australia's tax practice and comes as the firm faces a separate parliamentary inquiry into all

Austrian authorities have uncovered an international sanctions-evasion network that allegedly diverted more than €3.3 million worth of specialised European industrial equipment to Russian defence manufacturers, exposing the increasingly sophisticated methods being used to circumvent restrictions on trade with Russia. The investigation centred on a Vienna-based company that allegedly arranged the procurement and onward delivery of controlled machinery and specialist metalworki

The United States has significantly narrowed its beneficial ownership reporting requirements, removing the obligation for companies created under U.S. law to disclose their beneficial ownership information to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The change represents a major reduction in the scope of the Corporate Transparency Act's reporting regime and shifts the focus of the remaining requirements towards certain foreign companies operating in the United States. Under

Austria has uncovered a sanctions-evasion operation in which a Vienna-based company allegedly supplied specialised industrial equipment to businesses connected to Russia's military-industrial sector. The investigation has resulted in arrests and the seizure of machinery and tools, while authorities continue examining a complex network of companies allegedly used to conceal the ultimate destination and end users of the exported goods. The investigation centres on a company bas

Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority has issued a formal warning against a former managing director of a financial services institution over serious and persistent deficiencies in measures intended to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. The regulatory action, issued on 3 July 2026 and becoming final on 9 August, highlights an increasingly important principle in financial crime supervision: responsibility for ineffective AML controls can extend direc

The United Kingdom has expanded its sanctions regime against Russia, targeting banks, financial businesses, vessels and companies connected to the country's energy sector and sanctions-evasion networks. The latest measures are intended to restrict Russia's ability to generate revenue from oil exports and access international financial services, while increasing pressure on the networks used to circumvent restrictions imposed since the invasion of Ukraine. The measures include

The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has introduced a new Financial Crime Compliance Strategy for 2026, setting out a more risk-focused and outcomes-driven approach to combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other forms of financial crime across Malta's financial services sector. The strategy is intended to strengthen supervisory effectiveness while preparing regulated businesses for major changes to the European Union's anti-money laundering framework an

Prosecutors in Curaçao have asked the court to acquit a businessman of money laundering charges in the long-running Avior investigation, concluding that although significant suspicions remain, the evidence gathered during the decade-long investigation is insufficient to secure a criminal conviction. The development marks a notable turn in one of the Caribbean's most prominent financial crime cases, highlighting the challenges prosecutors face in complex cross-border money lau

RBC Capital Markets has agreed to pay a US$275,000 fine and accept a formal censure after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) found that the firm's anti-money laundering (AML) monitoring programme failed to adequately detect and escalate suspicious transactions for more than seven years. The enforcement action underscores regulators' continued focus on ensuring that financial institutions maintain effective transaction monitoring systems capable of identifying

UBS Financial Services has agreed to pay a record US$125 million to resolve coordinated enforcement actions brought by four U.S. regulators over longstanding anti-money laundering (AML) failures, marking the largest civil penalty ever imposed on a broker-dealer for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). The action was jointly taken by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

Portugal officially entered a new era of political transparency on Monday as the country's first lobbying transparency legislation came into force, introducing a public register for interest representatives and imposing new disclosure obligations for interactions with public authorities. The reform represents a significant milestone in Portugal's broader effort to make political influence more transparent, arriving at a time when public debate over integrity, access to decisi

UK authorities have frozen approximately £30 million worth of luxury London real estate linked to a businessman under investigation in Singapore's largest-ever money laundering case, underscoring the increasingly international nature of financial crime enforcement and cross-border asset recovery. The action reflects growing cooperation between law enforcement agencies seeking to identify and restrain assets suspected of representing the proceeds of illicit activity. The freez