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Markom Management fined £300,000 in UK over Crimea sanctions breach
A UK-registered company services provider that instructed payment, in 2018, to a designated person under The Ukraine (European Union Financial Sanctions) (No. 2) Regulations 2014, has been fined UK£300,000 (US$394,985) by the UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI).
Online Published Date:
01 August 2025
Appeared in issue:
326 - 01 September 2025
Spuerkeess pays €5m in Luxembourg for monitoring and CDD failings
The Banque et Caisse d'Épargne de l'État, or Spuerkeess, was fined €4,968,780 (US$5,746,780) on 2 May in Luxembourg for compliance failings in transaction monitoring and customer due diligence.
Online Published Date:
01 August 2025
Appeared in issue:
326 - 01 September 2025
Law firms fined over CDD failings in S$3 billion Singapore laundering case
Six law firms and lawyers who work, or did so, for some of them have been penalised by Singapore's Ministry of Law for their role in the country's largest money laundering case, in 2023, involving around S$3 billion (US$2.2 billion) in criminal funds derived from online scams and gambling, some of which was invested in luxury real estate.
Online Published Date:
05 August 2025
Appeared in issue:
326 - 01 September 2025
UK lawyer struck off for "widespread and fundamental" AML non-compliance
A sole practitioner, who admitted dishonesty in confirming to the Solicitors Regulation Authority for England & Wales that he had a firm-wide risk assessment (FWRA) for money laundering and terrorist financing when he did not, has lost his licence.
Online Published Date:
06 August 2025
Appeared in issue:
326 - 01 September 2025
Speed kills - challenger banks' approach to risk
At a very basic level, there are two aspects to risk calculus - there's the chance of being caught and then the consequences; if both are rated low, risk-taking is set fair.
Online Published Date:
08 August 2025
Appeared in issue:
326 - 01 September 2025
In retrograde? - USA AML
President Trump's radicalism knows no bounds, it would seem - financial crime control has not escaped, certainly: setting aside convictions; suspending Foreign Corrupt Practices Act casework; hollowing out the Anti-Money Laundering Act, halting long-anticipated implementation of a beneficial ownership register and pausing extension of AML requirements to investment advisers, and that's before any doubts that might be raised about the administration's stance on cryptocurrency - what does it all mean for anti-money laundering professionals? Keith Nuthall takes stock and seeks counsel.
Online Published Date:
08 August 2025
Appeared in issue:
326 - 01 September 2025
Paxos pays US$26.5m in New York for Binance AML not checked and wider CDD, monitoring defects
The first company to be granted a charter in New York to offer cryptocurrency services has been fined US$26.5 million for anti-money laundering compliance failings, notably in its dealings with Binance, the world's leading digital currency exchange.
Online Published Date:
09 August 2025
Appeared in issue:
326 - 01 September 2025
Niger - military advance
Democracy may not be the order in Niger today but the army leadership is responding to the threat that criminal and, especially, terrorist financing present to any prospects for a stable peace and development, find Dan Jarida, reporting from the capital, Niamey, and Keith Nuthall.
Online Published Date:
11 August 2025
Appeared in issue:
326 - 01 September 2025
Revise and finalise: UK Money Laundering Regulations and FCA PEP guidance
July 2025 saw various UK anti-money laundering updates, reflecting the Government's stated commitment to ensure that compliance obligations are effective yet not unnecessarily onerous. Recent revisions focus on making customer due diligence and enhanced due diligence requirements more practical and proportionate. Eve Ellis, Dorota Maj and Imogen Galilee of Ropes & Gray provide an overview of two sets of changes and their implications.
Online Published Date:
11 August 2025
Appeared in issue:
326 - 01 September 2025
Law reforms, enforcement lags - Canada
A major overhaul and expansion of anti-money laundering legislation should help Canada's technical compliance scores when the Financial Action Task Force comes calling, possibly in November this year, but Keith Nuthall, in Ottawa, looks as well at prospects for increased police resourcing and momentum to boost convictions.
Online Published Date:
12 August 2025
Appeared in issue:
326 - 01 September 2025
EU AML/CFT SupTech not there yet, finds EBA
The new model of anti-money laundering supervision in the European Union (EU), which seeks greater consistency of approach and coordination under AMLA - the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Authority - will rely heavily on IT innovation and data compatibility, but AML/CFT supervisory technology (SupTech) in national competent authorities is still "at an early stage", according to the European Banking Authority (EBA).
Online Published Date:
13 August 2025
Appeared in issue:
326 - 01 September 2025
Over half of fraud payments in money mule account less than an hour - RUSI study
Analysis of Lloyds Banking Group data on transfers from known money mule accounts from mid-June to mid-August last year, by researchers at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), found that just under 28% of the total value left within 15 minutes, and another 25% within an hour. Under 15% stayed in the mule account beyond 24 hours.
Online Published Date:
14 August 2025
Appeared in issue:
326 - 01 September 2025