FCA ramps up criminal prosecutions, favourites emerge as EU FS Commissioner plus don’t miss our exclusive webinar on detecting and preventing deepfake

From Paul O'Donoghue at AMLi

FCA ramps up criminal prosecutions, favourites emerge as EU FS Commissioner plus don’t miss our exclusive webinar on detecting and preventing deepfakes

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is ramping up its efforts to tackle financial crime, filing a record number of criminal charges against individuals and significantly increasing the number of firms stripped of regulatory approval.

The FCA's latest annual report reveals that while enforcement activity has surged, fines collected dropped to ￡35.3 million—down from ￡212.6 million the previous year, marking the lowest figure in over a decade.

The authority is keeping an active watch on crypto asset firms, with the FCA rejecting 87% of applications from companies seeking approval for their anti-money laundering (AML) defenses. Additionally, 450 consumer alerts were issued in just three months following tighter regulations on misleading crypto marketing.

FCA Chair Ashley Alder said: “We are mindful of the need to strike the right balance between compliance obligations and ensuring we remain assertive and agile in addressing potential harm.”

The FCA’s crackdown on financial crime yielded its highest number of criminal charges to date, with 21 individuals charged in the past year, and 11 successful prosecutions—up from just one in the previous year.

The regulator also opened 837 cases related to financial crime, a marked increase from 613 the previous year. However, the number of fraud-related cases decreased significantly from 2,013 to 1,039. Read our story here: FCA ramps up fincrime efforts, filing record number of criminal charges

In the EU meanwhile, for many finance ministers, it's probably been a while since they last checked their CVs.

But candidates for the European Union’s financial services commissioner will no doubt be anxiously ensuring every 'I' is dotted and every 'T', crossed.

Austrian finance minister Magnus Brunner is understood to be the hot favourite for the role.

Brunner is widely respected in the EU, performing well last year while lobbying (unsuccessfully) for the AMLA to be established in Vienna.

But nipping at his heels is former Portuguese finance minister Maria Luís Albuquerque, known to be a shrewd operator for her handling of the eurozone debt crisis.

TECH HIT

DEEPFAKES: With artificially manipulated videos growing ever more sophisticated, finance firms risk being caught out.

It's for this reason that several industry experts will give a free online webinar this month for financial and AML professionals.

The event is hosted by ID-Pal in association with AML Intelligence.

It will look at how deepfakes are created and examine the latest strategies to detect and prevent these threats.

Those interested can register HERE.

AI: European agencies fighting financial crime are in a pickle.

Many distrust the tech giants which are aggressively pushing fancy new AI programs.

But they fear if they don't use them, criminals will leave them behind.

Europol boss Catherine De Bolle has come down on the side of pragmatism, saying that officials must use AI more to fight financial crime.

However, there was a caveat.

De Bolle also said tech companies should be more open with regulators when they come looking for information.

The two statements perfectly encapsulate the tension at the heart of the AI debate. Read the story here: ‘We need to use AI more’ to tackle financial crime – Europol chief de Bolle

CHIEF: In the U.S. FinCEN has partnered with Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (CI) on the Regional Outreach to Educate Communities on the Threat of Fentanyl (PROTECT) series.

These information exchange sessions bring together public and private sector participants—particularly law enforcement and the financial sector—to discuss ways to deepen collaboration in the fight against the financial crime threats that devastate communities and undermine the integrity of the global financial system.

During Thursday’s event, Treasury’s Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Bradley T. Smith, and CI Chief, Guy Ficco, addressed the achievements of the PROTECT series of FinCEN Exchanges and outlined the goals for the remaining sessions.

“FinCEN and CI launched the PROTECT series to strengthen the pursuit and prosecution of the financing of fentanyl trafficking as a money laundering matter in criminal investigations,” Acting Under Secretary Smith said during today’s event. “These sessions have served as the building blocks for the ongoing partnership that we are encouraging financial institutions and law enforcement to sustain after this day ends.”

“By incorporating our financial industry partners into the fight against fentanyl trafficking, we are better equipped to identify suspicious financial transactions and dismantle criminal organizations that attempt to poison our communities,” said CI Chief Guy Ficco .

“Our meeting today marked the sixth PROTECT event we’ve cohosted throughout the country, and CI will continue to assist our law enforcement partners by providing our financial investigative expertise to track these illicit financial transactions,” said Chief Ficco.

Chief Ficco is one of the Keynote Speakers at ‘International Anti-Financial Crime Summit 2024’ in London on October 9 next. Have you secured your place yet? Book your ticket here:

HONG KONG: WeChat, a wildly popular social media app with over 1 billion monthly users, has fallen foul of AML rules.

The firm was hit with a penalty of just over $100,000 by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

The fine came off the back of a five-year investigation which uncovered a string of failings.

These included poor customer due diligence policies and risk controls.

WeChat said it has been working with the regulator and has since addressed the issues.

CRACKDOWN

UAE: The Financial Action Task Force's decision in February to remove the United Arab Emirates from its grey list was widely met with bemusement.

After all, the country was widely suspected of having lax transaction monitoring and AML issues which had lingered for years.

But the country is now moving to ensure that it keeps its name in the FATF good books.

This week it published a new AML national strategy which will involve tighter oversight of its banks.

The move comes after several gold mines suspected of money laundering were temporarily shut down, as the UAE aims to show it's serious. Find more here: How UAE plans tighter oversight of banks as part of new AML strategy

WIRECARD: The long-running scandal over collapsed payments firm Wirecard took a new twist this week.

Former CEO Markus Braun and two other executives to pay a staggering €140 million in damages.

The ruling is a result of loans provided to a Singapore-based business partner that were never repaid.

The verdict, which is not final, is the latest chapter in one of Germany's most egregious corporate scandals.

This case is separate from the main criminal trial involving Braun and other executives over the larger scandal surrounding Wirecard’s collapse in 2020.

The broader Wirecard trial involves charges of fraud and falsifying financial statements, with Braun maintaining his innocence.

RAIFFEISEN: A Russian court has frozen Raiffeisen Bank International's local arm, killing off any prospect of selling the business for now and deepening the standoff between Moscow and the West. Austrian bank RBI, active in Russia since the end of the Soviet Union, has increasingly frustrated U.S. and European officials after failing to scale back its business there, despite repeated warnings it should pull back following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

?? We have special offers for Individual and Corporate Members. Your Chief Compliance Officer, Department Head, or Chief Librarian can contact us about our Enterprise Membership for your organisation. Please reach out to James Treacy at [email protected] for further information.

Join the world’s fastest-growing FinCrime community and become an AML Intelligence member.

Subscribe now

Have a great Friday ??

Stephen and the team at AMlintelligence.