Money Laundering Bulletin

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has called on governments to redouble efforts to boost their regulatory controls over virtual assets and currencies, given the increasing crime risks associated with these financial technologies.

War is the ultimate disruptor: protocols in opposing jurisdictions are changed, may be overridden, in the face of possible existential threat. The shifts and reversals pose challenges not only to the integrity of fund flows within states in dispute but to foreign financial institutions that deal with them and still need to meet compliance obligations. Mikhail Karataev articulates the particular risks and how they can be mitigated.

Natural and legal persons with a "legitimate interest" will be able to access information on beneficial owners or those who otherwise exercise control, from a 25% threshold, of British Virgin Islands (BVI) business companies and limited partnership under new policy, published on 23 June.

The European Union's new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) will begin operations on 1 July 2025. While the launch marks the end of years of legislative groundwork, says Enrico Aresu of Moody's, it also sets in motion a gradual shift in how financial crime supervision is approached across the EU, particularly for those firms under its direct remit, and potentially beyond.

The African archipelago state Cape Verde may be legislating to strengthen its anti-money laundering regime but improvement will depend as much on resourcing and enforcement, finds Andreia Nogueira.