AML News - March 2025

International

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

• Published reports on progress in strengthening measures to tackle ML/TF for Algeria, Anguilla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Guernsey, Guyana, Kenya, Montserrat, Morocco, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Sierra Leone.
• Issued an updated version of the Consolidated Assessment Ratings, which provides an up-to-date overview of the ratings on both effectiveness and technical compliance for all countries assessed against the 2012 FATF Recommendations and using the 2013 Assessment Methodology.

Australia

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC)

• Issued a reminder that changes to tipping off requirements included in the 2024 amendments to the AML/CTF Act are in effect from 31 Mar 2025. Businesses and individuals bound by the tipping off offence must now consider whether a disclosure could be expected to prejudice an investigation. While the tipping off offence changes are in effect from Mar 2025, most of the obligations under the amended AML/CTF Act will not come into effect until 2026, when entities in real estate, accounting, precious stones and metals and digital assets come under AUSTRAC’s remit.
• Released a new e-learning module on Quality Reporting: Threshold Transaction Reports (TTRs) to provide guidance on how to improve reporting accuracy and compliance with AML/CTF obligations.
• Issued a reminder to crypto ATM providers to ensure that they are compliant with their AML/CTF obligations. AUSTRAC's cryptocurrency taskforce has found that some crypto ATM providers are out of compliance. 

New Zealand 

Department of Internal Affairs (DIA)

• Released the 2024 National Risk Assessment. The document identifies key risks, including criminal proceeds from fraud, drug crime, and tax non-compliance, and highlights vulnerable sectors that are most susceptible to misuse by criminals. This version also includes the first assessment of proliferation financing (PF) risk.

United Kingdom

HM Treasury 

• Issued the AML/CTF Supervision Report 2023-24. The annual supervision report for the financial year 2023-24 provides an important insight into the activities of the UK’s 25 AML/CTF supervisors.

Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI)

• Released the Annual Review 2023-2024 of the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI). The review highlights the impact of financial sanctions, demonstrates OFSI’s efforts to drive compliance, and underlines OFSI’s support to businesses in navigating UK sanctions.

National Crime Agency 

• Published its National Strategic Assessment of Serious and Organised Crime (SOC) for 2025. The Assessment showed that The SOC threat in the UK grew in 2024 but at a slower pace than in the previous, post-pandemic period. There was a mixed picture: some threats remained unchanged and others increased. The threat from illicit drugs continues to increase, causing harm to victims and communities, and driving many other types of criminality.

Jersey 

Jersey Financial Services

• Released feedback from supervisory examinations related to politically exposed persons. Some of the areas for improvement identified included: compliance monitoring plans not testing the effectiveness of systems and controls in place to address risk associated with PEPs; backlogs and deficiencies with periodic reviews for high-risk PEP customers, and declassification of PEPs too early.

South Africa

Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC)

• Issued updated draft guidance on the interpretation of money or value transfer service providers for consultation. This public consultation ends on 25 Apr 2025.

Canada

Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center of Canada (FINTRAC)

• Published new regulatory amendments, including a requirement for entities to report material discrepancies between their records and a company's registry filings for beneficial owners (effective 1 Oct 2025) and new obligations for factoring companies, cheque cashing companies, and financing or leasing companies (effective 1 Apr 2025). It also created a new framework that will allow private institutions to share information related to money laundering, terrorist financing and sanctions evasion, making it harder for criminals to access the financial system and evade detection (currently in force).

United States

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)

• Announced the removal of Beneficial Ownership reporting requirements for U.S. Companies and U.S. Persons, and set a 30-day deadline for foreign companies to file an initial beneficial ownership information report.
• Issued a Southwest Border Geographic Targeting Order. The GTO requires all money services businesses (MSBs) located in 30 ZIP codes across California and Texas near the southwest border to file Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs) with FinCEN at a $200 threshold, in connection with cash transactions.
• Issued an advisory to assist financial institutions in identifying and reporting suspicious activity related to the financing of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The Advisory highlights how ISIS and its global affiliates fund themselves and receive financial support from sympathizers internationally and describes several typologies ISIS uses to transfer money between its affiliates. 

Hong Kong 

Companies Registry

• Published a revised and renamed “Guideline on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (For Licensed Money Lenders).” It is effective as of 3 Mar 2025.

British Virgin Islands

Financial Services Commission

• Issued a circular to address technical, legislative, and logistical concerns raised by industry practitioners since the commencement of beneficial owner filings.

Other Jurisdictions

No major updates this month.