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Rank Group has reported a €7.1 million ($8.2 million) payment fraud affecting its Spanish operations to the authorities, while also initiating an internal investigation to determine how the incident occurred. The company confirmed that the fraud is connected to its Spanish-facing brands Yo and Enracha, which operate across bingo, electronic casino and slots, sports betting and entertainment. Given the size of the loss, Rank said the impact will be treated as an exceptional

Police in eastern China’s Zhejiang province have taken Yu Faxiang, the chairman of Hong Kong-listed Haichang Ocean Park, into custody as authorities investigate alleged mismanagement following defaults on multibillion-yuan wealth management products issued by a firm under his control. The move represents the latest crackdown on mainland China’s shadow banking sector, continuing years of government efforts to regulate and clean up the industry. Haichang, mainland China’s large

MP Technology Services Ltd, a key subsidiary of crypto payments firm MoonPay Inc, has been levied an administrative monetary penalty totaling CAD 536,853.35 after regulators concluded the company committed multiple compliance failures within Canada’s financial system. The enforcement decision was finalized on November 20, 2025, and publicly disclosed in mid-December following a detailed compliance review by national financial authorities. The company, which is incorporated

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has been handed a AUD 50 million capital add-on by Australian regulators after serious deficiencies were uncovered in its financial crime and anti-money laundering controls. The penalty, imposed jointly by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), follows the discovery of long-standing weaknesses that left the regional lender exposed to illicit financial activity for

As many in the market anticipated, cryptocurrency brokerage Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN) confirmed on Wednesday that it is moving into prediction markets through a partnership with Kalshi. Speculation around Coinbase’s plans to offer prediction-style contracts has circulated for months and gathered pace last week ahead of an event held earlier today. Event contracts now form part of a wider strategic push by the company, which also includes tokenized equities, aimed at broa

HM Revenue and Customs has secured a significant win in the Supreme Court after successfully challenging Hotel La Tour’s attempt to recover VAT linked to the sale of shares in one of its subsidiaries. The ruling marks a decisive conclusion to a long-running dispute over whether VAT incurred on professional fees connected to a share sale can be reclaimed when the proceeds are used for taxable business activities. The judgment was delivered on December 17 by a panel comprising

The United Arab Emirates has taken a historic step by permitting legal online betting through licensed platforms, signaling a significant shift in the nation’s long-standing stance on gambling. For the first time, residents and visitors can place real-money bets online within a federal regulatory framework designed to control access and protect consumers. At the center of this change is Play971, the UAE’s first approved internet gaming and sports betting website. The platform

Uganda’s National Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board (NLGRB) has intensified its crackdown on illegal gambling operations, netting scores of Chinese nationals and their Ugandan accomplices in a nationwide operation targeting unlicensed slot machines and gaming equipment that have deprived the government of significant revenue. The enforcement drive, code-named Operation Mashine Haramu —Swahili for “illegal machines”—is part of a broader effort by the regulator to stem th

Warner Bros Discovery has urged its shareholders to reject Paramount Skydance’s $108.4 billion (£80.75bn) takeover offer, in a dramatic development in the ongoing battle for control of one of Hollywood’s most storied studios. Paramount had argued that its bid was “superior” to the $72 billion deal Warner Bros reached with Netflix for its film and streaming businesses. However, Warner Bros Discovery’s board has “unanimously” recommended shareholders turn down Paramount’s offer

Australia’s financial intelligence regulator, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), has refused to renew the registration of independent remitter Yellow Sands Trading Pty Ltd, which operated under the business name Raiyyan Exchange, effectively barring the company from providing money transfer services anywhere in Australia with immediate effect. AUSTRAC’s decision followed the identification of serious and systemic deficiencies in the company’s

The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) has imposed an administrative monetary penalty of $67,150 on Juba Express Inc., a Toronto-based money services business, following a compliance examination that identified multiple breaches of Canada’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework. The penalty, issued on August 29, 2025, relates to violations of Part 1 of the Proceeds of Crime, Money Laundering, and Terrorist Financin

The Financial Conduct Authority has handed Nationwide Building Society a £44m fine after finding serious shortcomings in its anti-money laundering and financial crime controls over a period of several years. According to the UK regulator, Nationwide operated with inadequate anti-financial crime systems and controls between October 2016 and July 2021. During this time, those controls failed to effectively monitor transactions carried out by customers holding personal current

Malaysia has significantly strengthened its anti-money laundering framework, particularly in its legal structures and supervisory mechanisms, marking a crucial development since the country’s 2015 mutual evaluation. Assessments by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) noted that while Malaysia has the capacity to manage complex, high-profile cases, persistent challenges remain in successfully prosecuting money laundering c

The Financial Conduct Authority has imposed a £44 million fine on Nationwide Building Society after identifying widespread and persistent weaknesses in its anti-money laundering controls over a period stretching from October 2016 to July 2021. According to the regulator, Nationwide failed to maintain adequate systems to ensure that customer due diligence and risk assessments for personal current account holders were kept up to date, while its transaction monitoring capabiliti

French authorities again found themselves under intense scrutiny as new hearings in the Lafarge terrorism financing case brought forward sharply conflicting accounts of what government officials knew during the Syrian conflict and when they knew it. At the center of the proceedings were discrepancies between diplomatic narratives and corporate admissions, with the court poring over exchanges between Lafarge executives and state representatives that now frame a deeper investig

Financial crime remains an unrelenting global threat that constantly pushes authorities to adopt more advanced detection and prevention tools, and Bulgaria has moved decisively by intensifying its reliance on Open-Source Intelligence, OSINT, to reinforce its Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism, AML/CFT, architecture. The strength of any AML/CFT regime hinges on the sophistication of its Financial Intelligence Units and law enforcement bodies, which must p

Poland’s ongoing failure to implement a comprehensive legal regime for digital assets aligned with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation has created a mounting anti-money-laundering threat, one intensified by the recent presidential veto of the enabling legislation. With this decision, Poland now stands as the lone EU member state without a MiCA-compliant framework, a position that has prompted sharp warnings from political leaders about the country’

A former high-level oil trader has been handed a fifteen-month prison term and ordered to pay a $300,000 fine after taking part in an almost eight-year criminal scheme involving bribery of Brazilian government officials and the laundering of corrupt funds to secure profitable business for the commodity firms that employed him. The trader, Glenn Oztemel—formerly with Arcadia Fuels Ltd. and later Freepoint Commodities LLC—participated in conduct that represents a profound breac

Spanish banking heavyweight Santander has agreed to pay a hefty €22.5 million fine in France, drawing to a close a protracted money laundering investigation centered on its French subsidiary, BPI Paris. The settlement was reached through a judicial public interest agreement, or Convention Judiciaire d’Intérêt Public (CJIP), a mechanism that enables corporations suspected of financial crimes to resolve proceedings by paying a substantial monetary penalty. This brings an end to

In its latest Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Supervision Report for 2024–25, HM Treasury delivers an expansive evaluation of the UK’s financial defenses against illicit activity, covering the work of 25 supervisory bodies and detailing wide-reaching structural reforms. The document highlights the government’s intention to overhaul the existing supervisory landscape by assigning the Financial Conduct Authority sole responsibility for overseeing professio