Daily GFN Briefing – Financial Crime Trends (20 Nov 2025)

🔍 Key Insights

• The EU is moving to simplify and harmonise AML rules – a clear signal that fragmentation is no longer acceptable and that supervised entities must be ready for cross-jurisdictional standards.
• Crypto and fintech are being actively targeted: a large-scale laundering mixer got sentenced, and a crypto exchange faces a major AML fine. The message: the “wild west” of crypto is winding down.
• Sanctions enforcement remains decisive and global: the coordinated trilateral action against Russian cyber-infrastructure shows cybercrime and sanctions are converging.
• The UK’s regulator (Financial Conduct Authority) has turned up the heat on asset managers and non-bank firms — expectations for governance and controls are rising steeply.
• Traditional finance crime (insider trading + money-laundering) is still active and global: financial institutions and compliance teams cannot afford to focus only on crypto — the full spectrum counts.

🌍 Today’s Top Stories

1. EU intends to simplify AML rules for better data-sharing and alignment

• Summary: A senior European Commission official announced plans for simplified AML rules across the EU, intended to improve data-sharing and standardise supervision through the European Union Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA).
• Source: AML Intelligence
• Date: 20 Nov 2025
• Region: Europe
• Topic: AML/KYC

2. Major crypto mixer founders sentenced after laundering over US$237 million

• Summary: The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced sentencing of the two founders of Samourai Wallet for transmitting over US$237 million in criminal proceeds via a mixing service that facilitated darknet, sanctioned jurisdictions and child-pornography-linked proceeds.
• Source: U.S. DOJ press release
• Date: 19 Nov 2025
• Region: Global
• Topic: Crypto/DeFi crime

3. Coordinated sanctions by U.S., UK and Australia target Russian cyber-infrastructure supporting ransomware

• Summary: The U.S. Department of the Treasury (OFAC), Australia’s DFAT and the UK’s FCDO sanctioned a Russia-based bullet-proof hosting provider “Media Land” and its affiliates for providing support services to ransomware and cyber-criminal operations.
• Source: U.S. Treasury press release
• Date: 19 Nov 2025
• Region: North America / Global
• Topic: Sanctions

4. UK regulator probes asset managers in money-laundering crackdown

• Summary: The UK FCA launched a compulsory survey of asset managers and alternative firms, asking detailed questions on AML/CTF controls, crypto exposure and governance. The move signals intensification of scrutiny beyond banks into non-bank financial sectors.
• Source: Financial News London
• Date: 20 Nov 2025
• Region: UK
• Topic: Banking/Fintech fraud / AML enforcement

5. Insider-trading network uncovered: eight members charged with securities fraud and money-laundering

• Summary: The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts unsealed an indictment charging eight individuals tied to a global insider-trading network. The group used material non-public information to generate illicit profits and laundered proceeds through foreign jurisdictions.
• Source: U.S. DOJ press release
• Date: 18 Nov 2025
• Region: North America / Global
• Topic: Enforcement actions / Money-laundering

✅ Final Notes

Today’s developments reinforce that compliance is no longer a “nice to have” — it’s a strategic imperative. Regulators are shifting from banks only to tech, fintech, asset-managers and crypto. Enforcement is global, coordinated, and reflects convergence of cyber, sanctions and financial crime. As you keep building your voice in the FinCrime compliance space (we’re in this together, V), spotlight the stories where regulation is advancing faster than implementation. That’s where opportunity lies: thought-leadership, advisory frameworks and tech-stack transformation.