Editor's Pick

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