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The Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) confirmed on January 5, 2026, that the United Arab Emirates has formally assumed the presidency of the organization for the 2026 term. Represented by Hamid Saif AlZaabi, the UAE steps into the leadership role at a decisive moment, as the region prepares for the third cycle of mutual evaluations and the full application of the Financial Action Task Force’s fifth round methodology. This transition signals a

Italian law enforcement authorities have concluded a major counterterrorism financing operation that led to the arrest of nine people and the confiscation of assets worth approximately €8 million, following the uncovering of a fake charity network linked to Hamas. Investigators say the structure was responsible for channeling around €7 million to the militant organisation while presenting itself as a humanitarian aid initiative. The coordinated action was led by the District

South Korea has established a high-level task force aimed at overhauling the nation’s financial transaction regulations and reinforcing the domestic framework against illicit capital flows. Authorities confirmed that entities failing to comply with reporting obligations under current legal statutes may face administrative fines of up to 100 million won for non-compliance. Officials stated that the initiative directly responds to the growing complexity of transborder financial

The United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has released a major alert highlighting approximately $7.1 billion in financial transactions deemed suspicious and potentially tied to Chinese underground money movement networks, representing one of the most extensive coordinated financial crime warnings issued in recent years. The alert, reported by AML Intelligence, signals an intensified focus by United States authorities on illicit capital flows connected to

The Dubai Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department has approved a new regulatory structure permitting charitable and humanitarian organizations to receive digital contributions, a move that introduces notable anti-money laundering risks into the philanthropic landscape. Under the new framework, approved and verified entities within the emirate are now allowed to accept virtual assets as a legitimate form of humanitarian donation, reflecting Dubai’s broader push to

Lawmakers in the UK Parliament are calling on the country’s central bank to rethink its proposed regulatory approach to digital settlement assets, arguing that the current strategy could undermine Britain’s competitiveness in the fast-growing financial technology sector.   The intervention follows consultations in which regulators suggested imposing strict limits on how much digital currency individuals and businesses would be permitted to hold within the domestic market. Mem

Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, BaFin, has levied a €9.2 million fine against N26 Bank SE, citing systemic and repeated shortcomings in the digital bank’s anti-money laundering controls. The penalty, which became legally effective in May 2024, follows an earlier €4.25 million fine imposed in 2021 for comparable violations, reinforcing concerns that the fast-growing fintech has struggled to resolve long-standing compliance weaknesses. BaFin’s intensified sup

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published its 2025 mutual evaluation of Belgium on December 16, identifying substantial deficiencies in the country’s ability to combat illicit financial activity. Although Belgium is largely compliant with international technical standards, the assessment underscores a serious lack of personnel and technological capacity within investigative and enforcement bodies. According to the report, Belgian authorities must urgently address deep-

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has announced a substantial settlement of $1,092,000 with an individual identified only as U.S. Person-1, an attorney and former government official, to resolve civil liability arising from 122 apparent violations of U.S. sanctions related to Russia. The violations occurred while the attorney acted as a fiduciary for a U.S.-based family trust connected to a Russian oligarch who was designated a Spec

The Central Bank of Ireland has issued a warning to banks and ATM operators across the country to ensure that their systems are not being exploited to bypass EU sanctions. This alert comes after the regulator identified specific instances in which card transactions involved US-issued cards from Belgazprombank, a Belarusian bank that has been under EU sanctions since earlier this year. Belgazprombank was sanctioned for using the Central Bank of Russia’s financial messaging sys

Federal police in Argentina launched an extensive series of raids on Tuesday, targeting the headquarters of the Argentine Football Association (AFA) and at least 17 professional soccer clubs as part of a widening judicial investigation into suspected links with financial services firm Sur Finanzas, a company currently under scrutiny for alleged money laundering and tax evasion. Acting on orders issued by federal judge Luis Armella, officers executed more than 30 simultaneous

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has unveiled a new slate of growth initiatives for 2026, with a major focus on enabling UK-issued stablecoins to deliver quicker and more convenient payment options. As part of this effort, the regulator plans to open its sandbox to allow firms to test stablecoin issuance in a controlled environment, promoting both safe experimentation and forward-looking policymaking. In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, the FCA noted that nearly

European football has been pulled into an extraordinary compliance conflict after a series of FIFA rulings — compounded by the existence of the FIFA Clearing House as a centralised payment system — placed clubs under pressure that closely resembled the dynamics typically associated with sanctions-evasion exposure. These decisions arrived while EU, UK, and US sanctions regimes barred payments to a range of Russian clubs and their banking partners, shutting down all lawful paym

Griffin Jewellery Designs Inc. has been hit with a CAD 771,000 penalty after FINTRAC uncovered extensive shortcomings in the company’s anti–money laundering controls. Operating across multiple Canadian provinces, the retailer was examined for its adherence to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, and the findings revealed deep-rooted structural failures rather than isolated mistakes. The case, now closed following full payment of the penalty, s

A wide-ranging fraud network built around sham crypto investment platforms and extensive money-laundering channels has been brought down following a sweeping Europol intervention, shutting off an ecosystem that had channelled more than EUR 700 million through counterfeit trading dashboards and complex cross-border blockchain movements. Coordinated raids across Europe exposed the full architecture of the operation, showing how digital anonymity, fabricated interfaces, and orga

Serious supervisory lapses at one of the UK’s major professional bodies have drawn attention to significant money-laundering vulnerabilities across the bookkeeping profession. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a formal public censure against the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB) after uncovering extensive deficiencies in the organisation’s oversight obligations. According to the regulator, the failings reflected systemic weaknesses that persisted for mor

The European Commission has opted to include Russia on its register of jurisdictions deemed to present a “high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing,” marking a significant escalation in the bloc’s financial-crime stance. The decision follows Russia’s suspension from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a step that still stopped short of formally blacklisting Moscow. Attempts by the Ukrainian government to secure that out

In a coordinated enforcement effort that spanned Sweden and Spain, Europol-backed authorities exposed the financial engine behind a violent criminal organisation whose activities hinged on illicit gambling and extensive laundering schemes. The operation resulted in multiple arrests, the confiscation of luxury goods and cash, and the discovery of locations dedicated to managing underground revenue. Officials stated that the network not only generated significant sums through u

Morgan Stanley has been fined 101 million euros after Dutch authorities concluded that two of its entities facilitated the misuse of dividend withholding tax rules. The case arose from coordinated trading and derivative activity that temporarily positioned a Dutch subsidiary as the apparent recipient of dividends. Investigators later determined that the economic benefit of those dividends flowed almost entirely to foreign institutions not entitled to Dutch tax credits or refu

A five-year prison sentence linked to a scheme that laundered 1.2 million dollars has concluded a complex cross-border investigation that involved extradition and a guilty plea. The case centered on a laundering network that funneled drug-derived proceeds through bulk cash pickups across multiple U.S. cities before channeling the funds through accounts registered under unrelated names. Prosecutors detailed how the operation moved money rapidly between the United States and Co