Global REG-CAP September 2023

FINTRAIL produces a monthly summary of FinCrime regulatory changes and publications. This document covers:

• Key updates from global and local regulators

• Key updates from industry guidelines

• Additional insights identified from financial intelligence units

September 2023
This month’s highlights include:

• The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has published a report on the hawala system, a global money transfer service.

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published a new working paper that proposes the implementation of a crypto-risk assessment matrix.

• The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a report and a letter to the Chancellor detailing the initial findings of its work to investigate reasons for account closures and access to financial services.

• The US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued an alert on virtual currency “pig butchering” scams.

• The Asia Pacific Group (APG) has issued a report on money laundering associated with tax crimes in the Asia Pacific region.

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What other publications and regulatory changes caught your eye in September? If you are interested in speaking to the FINTRAIL team about any of the items in the REG-CAP, have any ideas for inclusion, or want to discuss any other financial crime topic, please get in touch: contact@fintrail.com

Global REG-CAP August 2023

FINTRAIL produces a monthly summary of FinCrime regulatory changes and publications. This document covers:

• Key updates from global and local regulators

• Key updates from industry guidelines

• Additional insights identified from financial intelligence units

August 2023
This month’s highlights include:

• The Wolfsberg Group published a consultation response on the EBA's proposed guidelines on factors for consideration by credit and financial institutions when addressing money laundering and terrorist financing risks. The response supports the proposed guidelines but suggests several enhancements.

• The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) published a report on how global trade and receivables finance mitigates against proliferation financing. The report discusses the challenges of dual-use goods within the financial services sector.

• The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a letter setting out its intentions to review how firms comply with their legal and regulatory obligations concerning the risk management and treatment of politically exposed persons (PEPs).

• The FCA also published a statement on expectations for UK crypto-asset businesses complying with the travel rule, highlighting expectations when sending or receiving a cryptoasset transfer to a jurisdiction without the travel rule.

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What other publications and regulatory changes caught your eye in August? If you are interested in speaking to the FINTRAIL team about any of the items in the REG-CAP, have any ideas for inclusion, or want to discuss any other financial crime topic, please get in touch: contact@fintrail.com

Global REG-CAP July 2023

FINTRAIL produces a monthly summary of FinCrime regulatory changes and publications. This document covers:

• Key updates from global and local regulators

• Key updates from industry guidelines

• Additional insights identified from financial intelligence units

July 2023
This month’s highlights include:

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published a report on taxing cryptocurrencies, examining challenges such as its quasi-anonymous nature, which facilitates tax evasion. The report suggests that current anti-money laundering rules are insufficient to stop tax evasion.

• The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released its annual report, which examines advancements against its three-year plan and key strategic objectives.

• The US House Financial Services Committee approved two bi-partisan crypto regulatory framework bills. Both are seen as an important advancement for US crypto regulation.

• Australia has established a new Anti-Scam Centre, which will coordinate an investment scam fusion cell to combat the growing problems of investment scams.

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What other publications and regulatory changes caught your eye in July? If you are interested in speaking to the FINTRAIL team about any of the items in the REG-CAP, have any ideas for inclusion, or want to discuss any other financial crime topic, please get in touch: contact@fintrail.com

Global REG-CAP June 2023

FINTRAIL produces a monthly summary of FinCrime regulatory changes and publications. This document covers:

• Key updates from global and local regulators

• Key updates from industry guidelines

• Additional insights identified from financial intelligence units

June 2023
This month’s highlights include:

• The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published a targeted update on implementing standards for virtual assets and virtual asset service providers. The report finds global implementation is “relatively poor, and compliance remains behind most other financial sectors”.

• Interpol issued a warning on the prevalence of human trafficking schemes where victims are forced to work in online scam centres.

• The European Banking Authority (EBA) published a report stating that money laundering and terrorist financing risks in payment institutions are not managed effectively.

• The UK’s Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) published a policy statement outlining new requirements for reimbursing victims of authorised push payment (APP) fraud within the Faster Payments system.

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What other publications and regulatory changes caught your eye in June? If you are interested in speaking to the FINTRAIL team about any of the items in the REG-CAP, have any ideas for inclusion, or want to discuss any other financial crime topic, please get in touch: contact@fintrail.com

Global REG-CAP May 2023

FINTRAIL produces a monthly summary of FinCrime regulatory changes and publications. This document covers:

• Key updates from global and local regulators

• Key updates from industry guidelines

• Additional insights identified from financial intelligence units

May 2023
This month’s highlights include:

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a book called ‘Countering the Financing of Terrorism: Good Practices to Enhance Effectiveness’, with insights from the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, INTERPOL, Europol, and the United Nations. The book covers topics such as the role of the private sector, sanctions, and international cooperation.

• The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched a public consultation on proposed amendments to its guidelines on money laundering and terrorist financing risk factors. The changes will extend the scope of these guidelines to crypto- asset service providers (CASPs).

• The UK government has announced its new fraud strategy, focusing on three principles: stopping scams from reaching people in the first place, bringing more fraudsters to justice, and empowering people to better protect themselves.

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What other publications and regulatory changes caught your eye in May? If you are interested in speaking to the FINTRAIL team about any of the items in the REG-CAP, have any ideas for inclusion, or want to discuss any other financial crime topic, please get in touch: contact@fintrail.com

Global REG-CAP April 2023

FINTRAIL produces a monthly summary of FinCrime regulatory changes and publications. This document covers:

• Key updates from global and local regulators

• Key updates from industry guidelines

• Additional insights identified from financial intelligence units

April 2023
This month’s highlights include:

• The Wolfsberg Group published updated guidance on anti-bribery and corruption compliance. The guidance covers firm-wide anti-bribery and corruption policies, governance with roles and responsibilities and access to top management, periodic risk assessment, training and awareness, and monitoring and testing for compliance.

• The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its three-year business plan. The plan aims to focus on slowing growth in victims and losses in fraud and Authorised Push Payment (APP) cases.

• The Virtual Assets Contact Group of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) met to discuss global progress and challenges in regulating virtual assets. The Group acknowledged the failure of many countries to implement the strengthened requirements outlined in Recommendation 15, which includes the ‘travel rule’ that requires obtaining, holding, and transmitting originator and beneficiary information relating to virtual assets transactions.

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What other publications and regulatory changes caught your eye in April? If you are interested in speaking to the FINTRAIL team about any of the items in the REG-CAP, have any ideas for inclusion, or want to discuss any other financial crime topic, please get in touch: contact@fintrail.com

Global REG-CAP March 2023

FINTRAIL produces a monthly summary of FinCrime regulatory changes and publications. This document covers:

• Key updates from global and local regulators

• Key updates from industry guidelines

• Additional insights identified from financial intelligence units

March 2023
This month’s highlights include:

• The Financial Action Task Force has released guidance relating to Recommendation 24: Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons. It stipulates that countries will need to ensure that authorities have correct information on the true owners of companies.

• The European Banking Authority launched a public consultation on amendments to its guidelines on risk-based anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing (AML/CTF) supervision. These changes extend the scope of the guidelines to include crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), including providing sources of information authorities should consider on the ML/TF risks relating to CASPs.

• The UK government released the Economic Crime Plan 2, which sets out the government’s priorities in tackling financial crime over the next three years. The Plan acts as an overarching document above a forthcoming Fraud Strategy and alongside a new Anti-Corruption Strategy.

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What other publications and regulatory changes caught your eye in March? If you are interested in speaking to the FINTRAIL team about any of the items in the REG-CAP, have any ideas for inclusion, or want to discuss any other financial crime topic, please get in touch: contact@fintrail.com

Global REG-CAP February 2023

FINTRAIL produces a monthly summary of FinCrime regulatory changes and publications. This document covers:

• Key updates from global and local regulators

• Key updates from industry guidelines

• Additional insights identified from financial intelligence units

February 2023
This month’s highlights include:

• In light of the recent humanitarian crisis in Syria, the US’s OFAC issued a Syria General License and released guidance for authorised transactions related to earthquake relief efforts, and supplemental guidance for the provision of humanitarian assistance. The UK’s OFSI adopted the Sanctions (Humanitarian Exception) (Amendment) Regulations 2023, and the European Council made a humanitarian exemption to its Syria sanctions regime.

• The Wolfsberg Group and the Institute of International Finance published a comment letter to the European Banking Authority (EBA) on de-risking. The letter outlines a set of recommendations, including for the EBA to adopt the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) definition of de-risking to align with international standards.

• FATF published the outcomes of its plenary, including its decision to suspend Russia from membership. South Africa and Nigeria have been added to the list of countries under increased monitoring, or the ‘grey list’, meaning these countries have committed to resolving identified strategic deficiencies. Meanwhile Morocco and Cambodia have been removed from the grey list and are no longer under increased monitoring.

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What other publications and regulatory changes caught your eye in February? If you are interested in speaking to the FINTRAIL team about any of the items in the REG-CAP, have any ideas for inclusion, or want to discuss any other financial crime topic, please get in touch: contact@fintrail.com

Global REG-CAP January 2023

FINTRAIL produces a monthly summary of FinCrime regulatory changes and publications. This document covers:

• Key updates from global and local regulators

• Key updates from industry guidelines

• Additional insights identified from financial intelligence units

January 2023
This month’s highlights include:

• The Financial Action Task Force has released its annual report for 2021-2022. The report highlights the global watchdog’s critical work, including its standard on beneficial ownership transparency, and strategic priorities for the next two years, including increasing capabilities to effectively recover criminal assets, overall strengthening of the global network, and leveraging
  digital transformation to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing.

• Transparency International has released its 2022 Corruptions Perception Index, showcasing that corruption levels, with an unchanged global average score, are at a worldwide standstill. According to the report, 26 countries have fallen to their lowest scores yet, and 155 countries have made no significant progress against corruption or have declined since 2012.

• The National Crime Agency (NCA) has published its 2022 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) Annual Report. The report notes a 21% increase in total SARs received, 120% increase in funds denied from Defence Against Money Laundering (DAML) requests, and 21% decrease in total DAMLs received over 2021 and 2022.

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What other publications and regulatory changes caught your eye in January? If you are interested in speaking to the FINTRAIL team about any of the items in the REG-CAP, have any ideas for inclusion, or want to discuss any other financial crime topic, please get in touch: contact@fintrail.com