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BaFin reports significant AML gaps at German financial firms
In a summary of findings from inspection visits, published 26 February, BaFin, the German financial services regulator, says it "regularly observed" that anti-money laundering (AML) officers lacked sufficient resources to do their job properly.
Online Published Date:
01 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
Four-year jail term for operating unlicensed crypto ATMs in UK
Olumide Osunkoya was sentenced to four years' jail, on 28 February, after becoming the first person convicted of unregistered cryptoasset activity in the UK.
Online Published Date:
01 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
US neuters beneficial ownership reporting law
US companies, their beneficial owners and other US citizens will not face penalties for failing to file beneficial ownership information, as required under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), the US Treasury Department announced on 2 March.
Online Published Date:
03 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
UnTethered? - stablecoins in Trump 2.0
With a pro-crypto President Donald Trump back in the Whitehouse, use of cryptocurrency in the USA, especially private stablecoins, may become more commonplace - but will it be met by parallel growth in AML/CFT regulation? Keith Nuthall canvasses measured opinion from the virtual space.
Online Published Date:
03 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
Four convicted of UK£200m+ money laundering deposits into NatWest
The National Westminster Bank account of Bradford, UK-based precious metals and jewellery dealer Fowler Oldfield received over UK£200 million (US$255 million) in criminal cash after two of its directors and two others working in the sector cooperated in money laundering for third parties between 2014 and 2016.
Online Published Date:
04 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
AG Communications pays UK£1.4m for AML and social responsibility breaches
The UK Gambling Commission has ordered AG Communications Ltd, trading as AspireGlobal, which operates 58 websites, to pay UK£1,407,834 (US$1,806,000) to socially responsible causes after it found flaws in its harm prevention measures and anti-money laundering/counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) controls.
Online Published Date:
05 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
EBA consults on rules for new EU AML/CFT regime
The European Banking Authority (EBA), on 6 March, issued four sets of draft regulatory technical standards (RTSs), under the European Union's revised anti-money laundering/counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework, for public consultation.
Online Published Date:
06 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
Robinhood fined US$26m for 'numerous' FINRA rule breaches, including AML
Securities brokerage Robinhood, comprising Robinhood Financial, LLC and Robinhood Securities, LLC, has been ordered, by FINRA, the US broker-dealer regulator, to pay US$26 million for not putting in place and operating reasonable anti-money laundering (AML) programs between January 2017 and November 2021, as well as for a host of other unrelated compliance failings.
Online Published Date:
09 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett fined UK£300,000 by lawyers' tribunal over AML breaches
The UK office of US law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett will pay UK£300,000 (US$388,730), plus UK£62,000 (US$80,340) costs for contraventions of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 between June 2017 and January 2023.
Online Published Date:
13 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
Sudan - back to basics
Civil war, no commercial banking activity in areas controlled by one faction or effective supervision of the financial sector, but a thriving export trade in gold, which circumvents international sanctions and funds ongoing conflict, combine to make Sudan a challenge at best, essentially off-grid at worst, in combating illicit money flows. Paul Cochrane finds little cause for optimism.
Online Published Date:
13 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
A welcome course correction: El-Khouri and extraterritoriality in ML cases
An attempted extradition to the US in connection with alleged insider trading has focused attention on the application of money laundering offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act to conduct outside the UK. Jonah Anderson of White & Case examines the Supreme Court judgment.
Online Published Date:
13 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
Measured progress - Nigeria
Having made considerable strides with AML regulation, on paper, the African financial powerhouse remains on the Financial Action Task Force grey list. Keith Nuthall and Samuel Okocha, in Abuja look at the reasons.
Online Published Date:
13 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
Total fines fall and change awaits - UK AML supervision report 2023/24
The UK government says in its 12th annual report on the performance of anti-money laundering supervisors, covering 2023/24, that it "remains committed" to reforming the superstructure of 25 regulators that police obliged entities: four options were put forward in 2023 and a plan is now "a priority": no date set.
Online Published Date:
15 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
Into the shadows - tracking alternative remittance
Informal, trusted channels for moving funds cross-border, with many generations old, are legal if registered, but also offer an ideal cover for illicit transfers and so, frankly, are a headache for law enforcement. Jonah Anderson of White & Case puts a spotlight on underground banking.
Online Published Date:
18 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
Too low a gear - Kenya
If a jurisdiction wants to escape 'special measures' - enhanced monitoring and a grey-listing by the Financial Action Task Force - it needs to act, preferably swiftly, on identified failings. Kenya is not short on areas for improvement, as Wachira Kigotho, in Nairobi, and Keith Nuthall discover, with many yet to be gripped.
Online Published Date:
18 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
Find your way - an AML education guide
A technical subject like anti-money laundering inevitably, rightly, catches the attention of academics and their institutions, but essentially a practical and fast-moving and evolving discipline, it betokens careful due diligence before signing up to ensure value for money and time. Keith Nuthall and Andreia Nogueira survey the study options.
Online Published Date:
18 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
Twists and turns - China and (A)ML
A new anti-money laundering law in China that emphasises international cooperation is cause for optimism but then implementation will be the proof, and all the while, criminal outflows and reports of strategic alliances of mainland organised crime with foreign counterparts persist. Keith Nuthall and Jens Kastner seek to disentangle the good and bad.
Online Published Date:
18 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
Herbert Smith Freehills Moscow fined UK£465,000 over payments in breach of Russia sanctions
The London, UK-registered Moscow office of law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has been ordered by the UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) to pay a UK£465,000 (US$603,205) penalty for six payments it made, between 25 and 31 May 2022, to entities designated under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.
Online Published Date:
21 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
Credit Suisse ex-compliance head fined CHF100,000 for failure to report in 'Tuna bonds' affair
Lara Warner, former head of risk and compliance at Credit Suisse has been fine CHF100,000 (US$113,225) by the Swiss Federal Department of Finance over failure to report suspicious activity around loan financing by the bank ostensibly to for projects to develop Mozambique's fishing industry and maritime security.
Online Published Date:
21 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
Synergies and constraints - the stop-start progress of information sharing
Collective effort almost invariably yields better results and efficiency gains but tension with data privacy in the financial crime space is ever-present; it stretched past breaking in the European Union. Advances in anonymising techniques and testing of legal protocols elsewhere, though, should mean that data sharing will only expand. Sarah Gibbons, Paul Cochrane, Sara Lewis and Keith Nuthall review the setbacks, successes and prospects for a step-change in combating illicit finance.
Online Published Date:
29 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
Resorts World fined US$10.5m for "overall lack of control" & likely illegal bookmaker clients
Casino operator Resorts World (RW) has agreed to pay a US$10.5 million penalty to the Nevada Gaming Commission to settle claims that it accepted wagers from alleged illegal bookmakers, violated the Bank Secrecy Act and the business culture was such that when faced with suspicious or illegal activity, executives "at a minimum, negligently disregarded, or, at worst, wilfully ignored" the information so as not to impact revenue growth or their own bonuses.
Online Published Date:
29 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023