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Alipay fined €214,000 in Luxembourg for monitoring, reporting, CDD breaches
Alipay (Europe) Limited S.A, an electronic money institution (EMI), was ordered to pay €214,000 (US$249,385) by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) in Luxembourg, on 19 May, for anti-money laundering compliance breaches found during an onsite inspection between 26 June 2023 and 31 January 2024.
Online Published Date:
03 September 2025
Appeared in issue:
327 - 01 October 2025
SARs utility and assets recovery measured - UK Economic Crime Plan update
In 2024, 6,845 prosecutions, in England & Wales, where money laundering was either the primary or a secondary offence constituted a 36% rise on 2023, with convictions on the same basis up 7%, to 3,756. There were 1,036 convictions for money laundering as a primary offence in 2024, 10% higher than the previous year.
Online Published Date:
03 September 2025
Appeared in issue:
327 - 01 October 2025
From the ground up - Syria
Reconstructing a country and its institutions after 13 years of civil war and half a century of one-party rule is a monumental endeavour: Syria's new government may be able to exert some authority over the banking system but with so much of the economy cash-based, effective anti-money laundering is set to be a long-term challenge. Paul Cochrane reports.
Online Published Date:
05 September 2025
Appeared in issue:
327 - 01 October 2025
From BMPE to CMLN: how compliance missed the bigger picture
The past five years have seen an unexpected change in the AML typology landscape. From the once-dominant Black-Market Peso Exchange (BMPE) to the newly defined Chinese Money Laundering Networks (CMLNs), the compliance community faces an uncomfortable truth: banks are often the last to know when the ground beneath them has already shifted, says Mikhail Karataev.
Online Published Date:
11 September 2025
Appeared in issue:
327 - 01 October 2025
Failure costs - remediation
Topline financial penalties for rule and law breaches may be in the hundreds of millions, even billions, of dollars, but the true price of non-compliance runs far higher once accounts for putting matters right are finally reckoned. Paul Cochrane looks at the business of repairing systems and controls.
Online Published Date:
17 September 2025
Appeared in issue:
328 - 01 November 2025
Social menace - the risk horizon widens
Big tech is itching to add payment service options to lock billions of users onto social media platforms - already exploited for financial crime - still longer but wants to avoid the full demands on obliged entities under anti-money laundering regulation: trying to have it both ways? Paul Cochrane and Raghavendra Verma investigate.
Online Published Date:
17 September 2025
Appeared in issue:
328 - 01 November 2025
Up the learning curve - AML training
Death by PowerPoint should be long past but too often it isn't, even in AML instruction. Keith Nuthall explores best practice in developing knowledge, understanding and skills, now driven by AI.
Online Published Date:
18 September 2025
Appeared in issue:
328 - 01 November 2025
Crypto terrorist financing risks expand, experts warn
Terrorist financing specialists have warned of the increasing role cryptocurrency plays in funnelling money to violent extremists worldwide.
Online Published Date:
19 September 2025
Appeared in issue:
328 - 01 November 2025
EU sanctions Russian LNG, 3.5 years after invasion of Ukraine
The European Commission has proposed a 19th package of European Union (EU) sanctions against Russia, including a ban on Russian LNG imports by January 2027, as Moscow ramps up its military aggression, including fighter jet and drone incursions into Estonia, Poland and Romania.
Online Published Date:
22 September 2025
Appeared in issue:
328 - 01 November 2025
ShapeShift digital asset exchange pays US$750,000 over US sanctions violations
A defunct virtual asset exchange, incorporated in Switzerland, headquarters in Denver, Colorado, has settled with the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for apparent violations of sanctions programs covering Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria. ShapeShift AG, now with "limited assets", will pay US$750,000 for 17,183 transactions with users from those jurisdictions, totalling US$12,570,956, which occurred between 19 December 2016 and 9 October 2018.
Online Published Date:
23 September 2025
Appeared in issue:
328 - 01 November 2025
Peken Global crypto exchange fined Can$19.6m for registration and reporting failures
A virtual currency exchange, incorporated in the Seychelles, has been ordered to pay Can$19,552,000 (US$14,023,310) after FINTRAC, the Canadian financial intelligence unit (FIU), found it had not registered as a foreign money services business despite serving Canadian customers, and breached reporting obligations under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act.
Online Published Date:
28 September 2025
Appeared in issue:
328 - 01 November 2025
Swiss parliament waters down AML reforms
The Swiss federal assembly has limited proposed anti-money laundering reforms for legal professionals. A bill, adopted in a final vote on 26 September and expected to take effect in January 2026, has emerged from its passage through the bicameral parliament's two houses, with greatly pared back requirements from an original May 2024 proposal.
Online Published Date:
29 September 2025
Appeared in issue:
328 - 01 November 2025
UN Security Council signposts rising terrorist financing risk in Africa, maps reforms
The UN Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) has warned of major gaps in efforts to combat financing of armed radical groups across 29 African countries, recommending reforms to tackle its increasing risk across the continent.
Online Published Date:
29 September 2025
Appeared in issue:
328 - 01 November 2025