Today we’re looking back at the last three months of industry news worth knowing – the latest from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary session covering grey list changes and several AML strategic initiatives with EU’s MONEYVAL, along with news from the AMLA – The EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority which has been live for just over a month.
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💡Industry news worth knowing
The FATF and its European regional partner, Council of Europe’s MONEYVAL, held a joint plenary session in Strasbourg recently, where the Global Network of over 200 jurisdictions and observers engaged in two days of technical discussions addressing key issues in money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing.
- Changes to the grey list find Bolivia and the British Virgin Islands added to the grey list and now requiring increased monitoring, whilst Croatia, Mali and Tanzania have been removed. Additionally, the European Commission has updated its own list of high-risk countries to align with the FATF.
- Strategic initiatives have been approved:
Recommendation 16: aims to strengthen transparency in cross-border payments by increasing clarity on who is sending and receiving money over 1000 EUR/USD and introducing new requirements around the use of technology to prevent fraud and error. Ultimately, these changes will improve efficiency and customer protection in cross-border payments.
Recommendation 1: the new guidance on risk-based approach focuses on simplified measures where risks are assessed to be lower. For example, approaches to address de-risking, which occur when financial institutions deny financial services to customers, rather than assessing and managing risks in line with the risk-based approach. In tandem, a new national risk assessment toolkit and revisions to assessment methodology have also been approved.
- International Collaboration on money laundering detection, investigation and prosecution is being strengthened with the introduction of new guidance developed in partnership with the Egmont Group, Interpol, and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
Following the latest updates to the Grey List, we would advise you to update your risk-scoring and due diligence processes.
Furthermore, the moment we’ve all been waiting for: the AMLA Executive Board has officially commenced its duties in Frankfurt, establishing a major milestone for the new EU watchdog.
At the European Anti-Financial Crime Summit, Chair, Bruna Szego highlighted:
The creation of the AMLA represents a significant step ushering in a new chapter of enhanced cooperation and unified action in our shared mission to counter money laundering and terrorism financing. This is not just a structural decision, it’s a big opportunity. By breaking down silos and enabling deeper cooperation between supervision and intelligence, we are building an AML/CFT system that is more responsive, more informed, and ultimately, more effective.
The AMLA’s mission is to become the centre of an integrated system of national AML supervisory authorities, ensuring their mutual support and cooperation; to facilitate cooperation, information exchange and identification of best practices among Financial Intelligence Units.
In June, the Chair welcomed four out of five EU Commission-appointed members who will be serving a four-year term each (It is yet to be seen who will be filling int the last seat at the table) and the Vice Chair, Juan-Manuel Vega Serrano. The mission remains clear: combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
📌 In case you missed it…
norbloc joins the UAE Delegation at VivaTech 2025 in Paris
Abdulla Bin Touq, Minister of Economy, UAE and Astyanax Kanakakis, CEO & Co-Founder, norbloc
Delighted to have been a select member of the Official UAE Delegation led by H.E. Alia Al Mazrouei, UAE Minister of State for Entrepreneurship. Together with other Future 100 companies, we celebrated a whole week full of innovation, technology and inspiration.
Day 2 at the UAE Pavilion, we had the pleasure of speaking with the Minister of Economy of the UAE, Abdulla Bin Touq where we dove into norbloc’s impact in the region – norbloc’s decentralized Fides solution has been the foundation of a ground-breaking approach to compliance, once again setting the UAE apart for its innovative spirit.
Chartis recognizes norbloc as Category Leader for ID&V and Best of Breed for Fraud Platform
The Sancus, end-to-end KYC/AML orchestration platform, is once again recognized by Chartis Research as a compliance solution that offers regulated entities a powerful approach to compliance. Designed with modularity and scalability in mind, Sancus facilitates customizations for compliance processes tailored to your specific needs to ensure future-proof due diligence.
Chartis Research, the leading provider of research and analysis on the global market for risk technology has now updated their latest Report, Enterprise and Payment Fraud Solutions, 2025. The Enterprise and Payment Fraud Solutions, 2025 Report provides an’ analysis of the demand-side trends and dynamics in the market for enterprise and payment fraud solutions.
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