Quarterly REGCAP - Q2 2026

The FINTRAIL REGCAP provides clear, accessible insights into the financial crime regulatory landscape, helping you stay informed and ahead of the curve.

This edition covers:

🌍 Global – Outcomes from the latest FATF Plenary, including Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iraq joining the grey list (with Algeria and Namibia coming off), the start of the UK's FATF presidency with a sharper focus on fraud, and a new consultation on cross-border payment transparency. Plus updated Wolfsberg Group guidance on the risk-based approach.

🇬🇧 UK – The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2026 come into force, alongside FCA multi-firm reviews of CDD/EDD and insurance financial crime controls, a call for evidence on economic crime data-sharing, and the FCA's Input Zone on AI good and poor practice. Also: the FCA's decisive action against Euro Exchange Securities UK, and industry moves on financial abuse (Nationwide's "Hide Reference" feature) and financial inclusion (UK Finance x Shelter).

⚖️ EU – The final text of PSD3 lands, bringing e-money tokens and crypto-assets in line with MiCA. AMLA opens consultations on business-wide risk assessments and ongoing monitoring, while France's ACPR and Tracfin flag financial crime risks in virtual IBANs, and Europol's IOCTA report spotlights AI-enabled, agentic cybercrime.

💻 North America – FinCEN and OFAC's joint rule to implement the GENIUS Act's stablecoin requirements, proposed BSA reforms, and alerts on IRGC sanctions evasion and World Cup-linked human trafficking. In Canada, FINTRAC's enforcement powers get a major upgrade, with penalties rising up to 40x under the new regime.

🌏 Asia & Middle East – Singapore's FATF/APG mutual evaluation praises a mature regime but flags a reliance on victim-led investigations. The UAE publishes new National Risk Assessment findings and human trafficking indicators, while Dubai's VARA raises the bar on how often VASPs must refresh their risk assessments.

💰 Fraud Focus – UK Finance's 2026 Annual Fraud Report shows losses climbing despite better reimbursement rates, with investment scams up 40% year-on-year. Cifas research reveals concerning attitudes toward credential-selling at senior levels, while Spain's big three banks launch a joint anti-fraud platform, FrauDfense.

🔍 Sanctions Focus – The FCA's deep-dive review of sanctions systems and controls, OFSI's new 2026-2029 strategy (built around the PERC framework), a joint OFAC–OFSI comparative guide for cross-border firms, and continued expansion of UK and EU Russia sanctions alongside notable penalties for Deutsche Bank AG London and Sabre Global Technologies.

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What other publications and regulatory changes caught your eye last quarter? If you are interested in speaking to the FINTRAIL team about any of the items in the REGCAP, have any ideas for inclusion, or want to discuss any other financial crime topic, please get in touch

APAC Monthly REG-CAP November 2021

FINTRAIL is producing a monthly regulatory summary of any FinCrime changes that may be occurring across APAC.

This issue will cover:

1. Key updates from regional and local regulators

2. Key updates from industry guidelines

3. Additional insights identified from financial intelligence units

November 2021

This month there has been lots of updates in Australia with AUSTRAC issuing a financial crime guide to raise awareness of the increasing misuse of payment text fields from a financial and organised crime perspective, the Australian Business Registry Services has now gone live with its Director Identification regime and Australian parliament has introduced a new thematic sanctions regime to enable Australia to respond more flexibly to a range of situations of international concern.

FINTRAIL has also seen the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand seeking public comments on the draft regulations for digital asset business operators and Hong Kong's HKMA launching its AML Regtech Lab to further encourage the use and adoption of Regtech providers across the banking sector.

This month there has been lots of updates in Australia with AUSTRAC issuing a financial crime guide to raise awareness of the increasing misuse of payment text fields from a financial and organised crime perspective, the Australian Business Registry Services has now gone live with its Director Identification regime and Australian parliament has introduced a new thematic sanctions regime to enable Australia to respond more flexibly to a range of situations of international concern.

FINTRAIL has also seen the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand seeking public comments on the draft regulations for digital asset business operators and Hong Kong's HKMA launching its AML Regtech Lab to further encourage the use and adoption of Regtech providers across the banking sector.

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 at: contact@fintrail.com

APAC Monthly REG-CAP October 2021

FINTRAIL is producing a monthly regulatory summary of any FinCrime changes that may be occurring across APAC.

This issue will cover:

1. Key updates from regional and local regulators

2. Key updates from industry guidelines

3. Additional insights identified from financial intelligence units

October 2021

The key updates from this month's APAC Reg Cap include the Australian Senate Committee releasing its report on its proposed changes to the crypto legislation and licensing in Australia, HKMA issuing guidance on authentication and fraud prevention controls for simplified electronic direct debit transactions and the PBOC issuing guidance for SMEs on applying a risk based approach when opening online accounts.

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 at: contact@fintrail.com

APAC Monthly REG-CAP September 2021

FINTRAIL is producing a monthly regulatory summary of any FinCrime changes that may be occurring across APAC.

This issue will cover:

1. Key updates from regional and local regulators

2. Key updates from industry guidelines

3. Additional insights identified from financial intelligence units

September 2021

This months APAC Regulatory recap covers the key regulatory updates in the region, including AUSTRAC’s findings from the Australian banking sector, money laundering/terrorist financing risk assessment.

Also, the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission has issued the new the AMLC Sanctions Guidelines, and Hong Kong's Securities and Futures commission has finalised its AML guidelines for the securities sector which will change the way banks and asset managers onboard clients.

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 at: contact@fintrail.com

APAC Monthly REG-CAP March 2021

FINTRAIL is producing a monthly regulatory summary of any FinCrime changes that may be occurring across APAC.

This issue will cover:

1. Key updates from regional and local regulators

2. Key updates from industry guidelines

3. Additional insights identified from financial intelligence units

March 2021

This Reg-Cap summarises the main regulatory updates and reports released in March 2021 across APAC. Some key highlights include the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) publishing new guidance on strengthening AML/CFT controls for Digital Payment Token (DPT) Service Providers, and the Australian regulator, AUSTRAC, publishing a number of regulatory guides for reporting entities on how to strengthen their AML/CFT programmes.

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 at: contact@fintrail.co.uk

APAC Quarterly REG-CAP January 2021

FINTRAIL is producing a monthly regulatory summary of any FinCrime changes that may be occurring across APAC.

This issue will cover:

1. Key updates from regional and local regulators

2. Key updates from industry guidelines

3. Additional insights identified from financial intelligence units

Q4 2020 - Jan 2021

This Reg-Cap summarises some of the main regulatory updates across APAC countries within the last quarter of 2020 and beginning of January 2021. Key highlights include changes to national AML/CTF laws across the region, specifically relating to Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) to align the scope of local regulation with FATF Standards on AML/CTF for VASPs.

What other regulations changes caught your eye at the start of 2021?

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 at: contact@fintrail.co.uk