FATF

Monaco’s financial markets watchdog has fined UBS €6 million for “numerous serious breaches” in anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism financing controls.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has removed Singapore from its enhanced follow-up list but the city-state’s beneficial-ownership safeguards, money-laundering prosecutions, and proliferation-financing controls are still falling short of the risks it faces as one of the world’s largest financial centers.

Italy has passed a sweeping review of its anti-money-laundering regime but must urgently fix a suspended corporate ownership registry and tighten oversight of non-financial businesses, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said in a report published on Thursday.

U.S. House Republicans are threatening to block all funding for the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) until the agency finalizes a rule requiring companies to report beneficial ownership information.

The Democratic Republic of Congo will begin restricting cash transactions in U.S. dollars from next April in an effort to curb money laundering, strengthen oversight of the financial system, and rebuild confidence in the Congolese franc.

Switzerland has approved its first comprehensive national strategy for fighting money laundering and terrorist financing, the country’s Federal Council announced Friday. 

Gaps in the international oversight of offshore virtual-asset firms have made it possible for criminals to commit large-scale fraud, money laundering, and terrorism financing beyond the reach of most supervisory bodies, according to FATF.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said that stablecoins are now commonly used in money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing schemes, and warned that peer-to-peer transfers via unhosted wallets represent a key vulnerability for the crypto ecosystem. 

Cyber-enabled fraud is rapidly expanding in scale and sophistication as criminals exploit digital platforms, instant payments, and virtual assets to move illicit proceeds across borders, an intergovernmental watchdog said on Tuesday.  

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) added Kuwait and Papua New Guinea to its “grey list” of countries under closer monitoring, saying both have pledged to fix weaknesses in their safeguards against illicit money flows.