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The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates has prohibited all branches of Bank Melli Iran operating in the UAE from conducting financial transactions to and from Iran following regulatory examinations that identified violations of UAE laws, regulations and supervisory requirements. The measure was announced on 23 September 2026 by the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE). The prohibition applies specifically to financial transactions between the UAE branches of Bank Melli Iran a

Financial firms in the United Kingdom closed 238,396 customer accounts linked to suspected money mule activity in 2025, according to a review published by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 23 September 2026. The regulator’s findings also show that fraud proceeds commonly pass through multiple mule accounts before being withdrawn or otherwise converted into usable funds. The figures were collected through a survey of 35 financial services firms, including retail banks,

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has published its 2026 Mutual Evaluation Report on Türkiye, finding that the country has strengthened its defences against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing, while identifying a number of areas requiring further improvement. The assessment examined Türkiye’s AML/CFT/CPF framework and its effectiveness based on the situation at the time of the FATF’s on-site visit in November 2025. The evaluation found that

US federal prosecutors are investigating whether Binance knowingly allowed trading activity that violated US sanctions relating to Iran, adding a new layer of regulatory scrutiny to the cryptocurrency exchange. The reported investigation is being led by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, with the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in Washington also involved. The inquiry concerns whether transactions involving Iran or Iranian-linked parties we

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates and Sweden have arrested seven people in a coordinated investigation into an international money laundering network that allegedly handled approximately 70 million Swedish kronor, equivalent to about AED 26.5 million, over a period of ten months. The suspected leader of the network, a Swedish national, was arrested in the United Arab Emirates after fleeing Sweden. He was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice in connection with suspected

The United States has imposed sanctions on Iranian cryptocurrency exchange BitBank, its software developer and three individuals linked to Iranian financier Babak Zanjani, alleging that the network facilitated the movement of hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The designations were announced by the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on 17 September 2026 under Executive Order 13902, w

The UK Government has launched a three-year Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Strategy covering the period from 2026 to 2029, setting out measures to strengthen the detection, disruption and prosecution of money laundering and increase the recovery of criminal assets. The strategy, published on 15 September 2026, is backed by more than £550 million of investment over three years and is expected to result in the recruitment of 500 additional law enforcement officers and

Five individuals allegedly linked to Russian intelligence services have been charged in the United States with conspiring to finance terrorism and, in three cases, with conspiring to commit murder for hire, following an investigation into a network accused of arranging payments for attacks, surveillance and targeted killings. The charges were unsealed on 15 September 2026 in the Southern District of New York. According to the indictment, the network operated from at least 202