Oversight

Edited from: Cowes High Street Nationwide branch by Arriva436, 2009, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cowes_High_Street_Nationwide_branch.JPG, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

FCA Hits Nationwide with £44mn Fine for Failing to Flag Suspect Payments

Nationwide Building Society has been hit with a £44-million fine by the UK’s financial regulator over longstanding weaknesses in its systems to detect and prevent financial crime, including failures that allowed tens of millions of pounds in fraudulent Covid furlough payments to pass through a customer’s account.

Image credit: “2025 07 22 Foreign Secretary David Lammy at NCA, London, with DG Rob Jones (54671721188)” by Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2025_07_22_Foreign_Secretary_David_Lammy_at_NCA,_London,_with_DG_Rob_Jones_(54671721188).jpg, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

UK to Take on Illicit Finance with New AI Tools, Facilitator Crackdown

The UK government is taking aim at corrupt bankers, lawyers, and accountants and deploying new tech tools to identify dirty money as part of a new strategy to root out tens of billions in illicit funds entering the country each year.

mage credit: Adapted from “Western Union Money Transfer – a conduit for remittances” by Richard Allaway, via Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/16287002@N00/6845522191, licensed under CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/). Changes were made.

In U.S. Migrant Crackdown, a Renewed Focus on Cross-Border Remittances

The United States is tightening its oversight of the tens of billions of dollars resident and undocumented migrants send home each year through Western Union, MoneyGram, and other money services businesses (MSBs), according to a recent U.S. Treasury Department warning.  

Nigeria to Tighten Bank Cash Withdrawal Limits

Nigeria’s central bank has unveiled sweeping new cash withdrawal limits and related rule changes aimed at curbing cash dependence and reducing security and money-laundering risks, according to Reuters.

Image credit: Adapted from “People's Bank of China 20160428 092840” by David290, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:People%27s_Bank_of_China_20160428_092840.jpg, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). Changes were made.

China Signals Crypto Crackdown, Flags Stablecoins

China’s central bank has restated its hard line on cryptocurrencies, warning that a renewed wave of speculation is testing regulators and vowing tougher action against illegal activities involving stablecoins, according to Reuters.

FCA to Overhaul Transaction Reporting

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a consultation to overhaul the country’s transaction reporting regime, promising both stronger tools to combat financial crime and a lighter reporting burden for firms.

“Banco Central do Brasil” by Egil Fujikawa Nes for Connection Consulting, Flickr, CC BY 2.0. Edited from the original. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/connectionconsulting/4558286198

Brazil Imposes AML Rules on VASPs, Stablecoins

Brazil’s central bank unveiled long-awaited rules for virtual assets on Monday, extending anti–money laundering (AML) and counterterrorism financing (CTF) obligations to crypto firms and classifying fiat-pegged crypto transactions as foreign-exchange operations, Reuters reported.