The European Union is preparing a new proposal to the United States aimed at advancing the next phase of the trade deal reached between the two sides earlier this summer, according to people familiar with the matter.   The plan, which has not yet been announced in the US, will center on five key areas, including the lowering of rates for additional products such as wines and spirits.   The initiative comes ahead of a meeting later this month between EU trade chief Maros Sefco

Brazil is poised to become a pioneer in global tax reform with the introduction of a unique value-added tax (VAT) system that promises to create a more competitive and investor-friendly economy, according to a new working paper published by the OECD Economics Department. The paper, titled “The reform of Brazil’s consumption tax system,” was released on Monday, November 10, and authored by OECD policy experts Jens Mathias Arnold, Piet Battiau, Falilou Fall and Karoline Spies.

A 47-year-old woman in the United Kingdom has been sentenced to 11 years in prison after authorities uncovered her role in controlling a vast cryptocurrency laundering operation tied to an international investment fraud. Investigators found that she attempted to convert billions in digital assets into luxury properties, jewelry, and cash, using complex schemes to disguise the true source of the funds. According to law enforcement, the woman spent several years amassing large

Former Speaker of the House Arthur Lira has called on Brazil’s Federal Government to focus on combating illegal betting operations before pursuing higher taxes on licensed companies.   Speaking to journalists during an event in São Paulo, Lira said that betting is “inevitable” in Brazil and argued that prohibition is not an effective approach to managing the industry.   The congressman emphasized that authorities should prioritize enforcement against unlicensed betting platfo

Beximco has emerged at the center of a sweeping money laundering investigation in Bangladesh after authorities uncovered what they believe to be a sophisticated system designed to channel export proceeds abroad without repatriating the funds. Investigators allege that once export documents—including invoices and shipping papers—were prepared, banks processed the transactions as standard trade operations. Letters of credit were issued, and the shipments were logged as complete

The Netherlands’ gambling regulation entered a new phase in July 2025 as the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) significantly expanded its enforcement scope, extending its oversight beyond licensed operators to include affiliates, media organisations, and marketing agencies. This development represents a decisive shift in the regulator’s strategy, designed to dismantle the broader ecosystem that sustains illegal and non-compliant gambling activity across the Dutch market. For the first

The Bank of England (BoE) has unveiled a consultation paper detailing its plans to regulate systemic stablecoins, digital currencies designed to maintain a stable value against the pound sterling. The proposals, published on November 10, aim to ensure that stablecoins are sufficiently secure for everyday payments while protecting the broader UK economy. Systemic stablecoins are digital tokens whose value is linked to traditional money, such as the pound, or to assets like gov

Norsk Rikstoto has come under intense regulatory scrutiny after Norway’s Gambling Commission and the national financial supervisory authority identified severe breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) requirements across the operator’s activities.   The findings point to a systematic breakdown of compliance, where key controls were missing, legal duties ignored, and decisions left undocumented—seriously impairing the company’s capacity to detect and report suspicious behavior.

One of the largest anti-money laundering (AML) supervision failures in Europe’s virtual asset sector has come to light, as the Bank of Ireland imposed a €21.4 million fine on Coinbase Europe after regulators discovered that more than 30 million crypto transactions escaped detection entirely.   The incident has exposed deep flaws in the company’s transaction monitoring systems—ranging from design and governance weaknesses to delayed disclosure, vendor oversight lapses, and a b

The European Commission is preparing a sweeping overhaul of financial market oversight that would bring stock exchanges, cryptocurrency trading platforms, and clearing houses under central EU supervision. The initiative aims to address fragmentation across Europe’s financial landscape and strengthen the bloc’s competitiveness against the United States. Currently, dozens of national and regional regulators oversee hundreds of trading and post-trade institutions across the EU —

JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) disclosed in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that it is cooperating with inquiries from government agencies and other entities concerning its internal policies and procedures, as the Trump administration intensifies its focus on alleged “debanking” of specific industries or clients. The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued new guidance in September designed to discourage banks from closing customer accounts based on political or re

Revolut has officially selected Cyprus as the central base for its European digital asset operations, following the company’s acquisition of a Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) licence from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) through its local entity, Revolut Digital Assets Europe Ltd. This newly granted authorization signals the beginning of a significant new chapter for both Revolut and Cyprus, as the MiCA regulation introduces a comprehensive European frame

A vast $3 billion laundering operation run by North Korea has been unveiled by the United States, marking one of the most sophisticated state-backed financial crime networks ever identified. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued a new round of sanctions that reveal an intricate structure of digital theft, shell banking, and cross-border money laundering. Beneath the technical mechanisms lies a deliberate state strategy: Pyong

A recent law enforcement operation at Manchester Airport has shed light on how portable wealth can serve as a vehicle for concealing illicit funds. Officers intercepted a suspicious vehicle near the terminal late on 30 October and discovered seven gold bars valued at approximately £700,000. Follow-up investigations led to the arrest of two men, aged 49 and 45, who arrived days later on an inbound flight. Their luggage contained additional gold and jewellery worth about £1 mil

Online gambling operators have long been under regulatory scrutiny for anti-money laundering (AML) compliance, but the recent £650,000 settlement involving NetBet Enterprises Limited has exposed how even reputable and established firms can fall short in protecting their platforms from criminal misuse. The enforcement action serves as a clear reminder of how weak risk assessments, inadequate transaction monitoring, and operational complacency can transform a legitimate busines

The Singapore Police Force has unveiled one of the most intricate transnational money-laundering operations in recent memory, targeting the Prince Holding Group led by Chen Zhi and his associates. The investigation exposed a sprawling financial network spanning multiple jurisdictions, with illicit proceeds traced from scam operations and forced-labor schemes into luxury assets and corporate holdings. Authorities describe the case as a benchmark for Singapore’s commitment to m

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has released its latest Anti-Money Laundering Annual Report at a pivotal moment for the United Kingdom’s financial crime framework. As the government moves to consolidate all professional body supervisors under the Financial Conduct Authority, the SRA has produced one of its most comprehensive accounts to date of the legal sector’s exposure to financial crime and its own regulatory responses. The 2024–25 report details the scale of th

The ongoing trial of Lafarge SA has emerged as one of the most consequential corporate terrorism-financing cases in recent European legal history. The French cement producer, now part of Holcim, is accused of paying several million euros to armed groups in Syria between 2012 and 2014 to maintain operations at its plant in Jalabiya. Prosecutors allege that these payments financed extremist organisations, including the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, converting routine busin

Australia’s financial intelligence regulator, AUSTRAC, has intensified its crackdown on illicit cash-to-crypto operations, zeroing in on a key player whose compliance lapses expose growing vulnerabilities in the nation’s digital currency oversight. The enforcement action against Cryptolink Pty Ltd not only underscores AUSTRAC’s sharpened focus on crypto ATM operators but also highlights how traditional laundering techniques are being repurposed through emerging technologies.

The Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) has announced an extension to the compliance deadline for betting operators in Brazil regarding the recently introduced ban on betting among social welfare beneficiaries. Operators will now have an additional 30 days to fully adhere to the new restrictions, which were formally announced in late September. On 30 September, the SPA published Normative Ordinance No 2,217/2025 and Normative Instruction No 22, which completely prohibit bene