June Regulatory Updates and Alerts

FATF’s Latest Update of High-Risk Third Countries – June 2025

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has released its latest review following the June 2025 plenary in Strasbourg, highlighting notable changes that compliance professionals, financial institutions, and regulators need to be aware of.

Key updates:
New additions to the GREY list:
– Bolivia
– Virgin Islands (UK)

Recent removals from the GREY list following completed action plans:
– Croatia
– Mali
– Tanzania

There are several actions for firms to review their financial crime controls, including EWRA, FCRA, financial crime related policies and procedures, internal customer risk assessments, transaction monitoring or any other relevant controls.

Firms should also take note of the European Commission’s high-risk third countries update, which was released just before the FATF Plenary.

For more details, click the links below:

🔗 https://www.fatf-gafi.org/en/publications/High-risk-and-other-monitored-jurisdictions/increased-monitoring-june-2025.html

🔗 https://www.fatf-gafi.org/en/publications/High-risk-and-other-monitored-jurisdictions/Call-for-action-june-2025.html

🔗 https://finance.ec.europa.eu/financial-crime/anti-money-laundering-and-countering-financing-terrorism-international-level_en

FATF’s New Report on Complex Proliferation and Sanctions Evasion Schemes

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released a new report this morning (20 June 2025) that provides an in-depth overview of global trends and evasion methods used in complex proliferation financing and sanctions evasion schemes.

The report also highlights examples of good practices, as well as the challenges faced by regulatory bodies in tackling these issues.

For full details on the report, click the link below:

🔗 https://www.fatf-gafi.org/content/fatf-gafi/en/publications/Financingofproliferation/complex-proliferation-financing-sanction-evasion-schemes.html

FCA Offering Pre-Application Support Service (“PASS”)

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is now offering Pre-Application Support Service (PASS) to cryptoasset, payments, and wholesale firms considering applying for registration or authorisation in the UK. Firms can request a pre-application meeting to discuss their plans and raise any questions before submitting an official application for registration or authorisation.

To register for a pre-application meeting, firms can use FCA Connect: https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/connect/registration

For more information on this service, visit: https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/authorisation/pre-application-support-service

Roles and Responsibilities in Payments Regulation – Explained

A new article published on the FCA’s website provides much-needed clarity on the roles and responsibilities of the key regulators in the payments sector.

It covers the four main regulators:
– Bank of England
– Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
– Payment Systems Regulator (PSR)
– Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)

This guide provides clarity on the division of regulatory responsibilities and how each body oversees different aspects of the payments industry.

For more details, check out the full article here: https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/roles-responsibilities-payments-regulation