AML/CFT

  • AMLA MiCA Review Response: Five AML/CFT Gaps It Asks the EC to Review

    On 7 October 2026 the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA) published its response to the European Commission’s targeted consultation on the review of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA). The AMLA MiCA review paper is dated 30 September 2026, the day the consultation closed, and reads MiCA…

  • AMLA Risk Assessment Data Collection: The 2027 Selection Exercise

    From 2028, the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA) is due to directly supervise a first group of up to 40 credit and financial institutions or groups across the EU; under Article 13(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1620, direct supervision starts six months after AMLA publishes the selected-entity list. The exercise…

  • EuReCA Reporting: CSSF Names AMLA in Joint Controllership Update

    On 11 September 2026, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) reissued its statement on the EuReCA joint controllership arrangement, and the edit is narrow on the page but material underneath it: every reference to the European Banking Authority (EBA) is now a reference to the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing…

  • FATF on Hawala and Underground Banking: AML Red Flags

    On 3 September 2026 the Financial Action Task Force published Investigating Professional Money Laundering, Underground Banking, and the Use of Hawala and Other Similar Service Providers, and one case study, Operation Klaver in the Netherlands, records approximately EUR 500 million in criminal proceeds processed over eight months through a cash-based informal value-transfer system. The report…

  • AMLA Central Contact Point Survey: The 15 September Deadline for PSPs

    On 6 August 2026 the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA) opened a voluntary survey asking electronic money institutions (EMIs) and payment service providers (PSPs) about their experience with the central contact point framework, and the window closes on 15 September 2026. The CSSF relayed the exercise to the Luxembourg…

  • goAML Luxembourg: The CRF Reporting Workflow Explained

    goAML is Luxembourg’s electronic channel for suspicious-operation reporting and communication with the CRF; for lawyers, the platform integrates the Article 7 Bâtonnier filter before qualifying reports are forwarded to the CRF. In 2024 the CRF received significantly more suspicious reports than the prior year, according to its 2024 annual report. That same report covers the…

  • MONEYVAL Bulgaria AML Follow-Up: The Correspondent Banking Read

    On 17 June 2026, MONEYVAL published its third enhanced follow-up report on Bulgaria, and the headline is clear: Bulgaria is now rated compliant or largely compliant on all 40 FATF Recommendations, and no further reporting is required under MONEYVAL’s fifth-round evaluation. For anyone who runs country-risk models or approves correspondent relationships, the MONEYVAL Bulgaria AML…

  • FINTRAC Foreign Branch Rules: Canada’s Extraterritorial AML Reach

    A Canadian bank with a branch in Singapore falls within section 9.7; a life insurance company’s foreign subsidiary is covered only if it carries out similar activities and is wholly owned or consolidated with the company; and a securities dealer’s affiliated London entity can trigger section 9.8 if the statutory affiliation test is met. Canada’s…

  • FATF Public-Private Partnerships: Sharing AML Data at Scale

    On 8 July 2026 the Financial Action Task Force published a global stocktake of public-private partnerships for fighting illicit finance, and the message to reporting teams is blunt: the data that would expose a laundering network usually sits in fragments across separate banks, payment firms and law enforcement files, and criminals move faster than any…

  • FATF Travel Rule Implementation: The Enforcement Gap

    On 16 July 2026 the Financial Action Task Force published its seventh targeted update on how countries are implementing the FATF standards for virtual assets and virtual asset service providers. The headline finding is that implementation remains uneven. Of the 109 jurisdictions answering the Travel Rule legislation question, 91, or 83 percent, reported legislation in…