INSIGHT: Blacklisting Russia, AMLA steps up and fighting cartels – 2025’s biggest AML stories

By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent

2025 was a non-stop rollercoaster in the world of anti-financial crime and AML.

From enormous fines to fighting cartels, at AML Intelligence, we’ve covered all of the year’s biggest stories.

Our team has combed through our archive and pulled together the highlights from 2025.

Please enjoy – thank you for reading, and we look forward to continuing to serve you with the best in breaking news and analysis in 2026.

January

• Donald Trump started 2025 as he meant to continue – by focusing on debanking. The U.S. President accused Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase of refusing to serve conservatives, a claim both banks denied.
• Robinhood, the U.S. trading platform best known for its popular app, was slapped with a $45 million fine by the SEC.
• The Dutch Central Bank fined Volksbank €5 million for persistent failures in its AML controls.

February

• Fincrime experts were shocked when U.S. President Donald Trump announced the suspension of the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which prohibits U.S. companies from bribing foreign officials. Trump called the law a “disaster,” arguing it discourages American businesses by exposing them to investigations and indictments.
• The FATF (Financial Action Task Force) President explained why the organization has not blacklisted Russia, instead suspending the country’s membership.

March

• AMLA, the EU’s new AML watchdog, chose its five leaders to join Chair Bruna Szego on the executive board. 
• The UK’s FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) abandoned its plan to publicly ‘name and shame’ certain firms under investigation.

April

• Revolut, Britain’s most valuable start-up, Lithuania’s central bank fined €3.5 million ($3.83 million) for failures in money-laundering prevention. 
• Block was hit with a $40 million penalty to settle accusations the payments company had significant failures in its anti-money laundering compliance program.

May

• AMLA Chair Bruna Szego outlined her top three priorities in overhauling the bloc’s approach to fighting financial crime. Giving the keynote speech at AML Intelligence’s ‘European Anti-Financial Crime Summit’ 2025, she discussed the regulator’s ‘transformative potential’.
• The US scaled back white collar crime enforcement in favour of clamping down on illegal immigration.
• Marcus Pleyer, resigned from AMLA Executive Board after being appointed as a State Secretary in Germany’s new government.
• Private bank Edmond de Rothschild Europe became the first banking institution ever to be convicted of money laundering in Luxembourg.

June

• The FATF added the British Virgin Islands to its ‘grey list’ of jurisdictions with weak anti-money laundering (AML) regimes.
• U.S. venture capital firm GVA Capital was penalized $216 million for violations of Russia-related sanctions.
• The Trump administration issued new guidelines for the FCPA, which narrowed the scope of the law.

July

• The European Commission formally proposed adding Monaco to its AML blacklist, while removing the UAE and Gibraltar.
• British digital bank Monzo was fined £21m for “repeatedly” opening accounts for “high-risk” customers without proper KYC.
• AMLA officially began operations as of July 1.

August

• ING Belgium came under investigation as part of an ongoing probe into alleged money laundering by former European Union commissioner Didier Reynders – who denies the charge.
• Do Kwon, the South Korean crypto entrepreneur behind two digital currencies that lost an estimated $40 billion in 2022, has pleaded guilty to two U.S. charges of conspiracy to defraud and wire fraud.
• Frits van Eerd, former CEO of Jumbo, one of the biggest supermarket chains in the Netherlands, was sentenced to two years in prison for money laundering and bribery offences.
• Spanish police arrested Faustino Nogales, a former senior narcotics officer, as part of a major probe into drug trafficking and money laundering in Mallorca.

September

• The OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency), a top U.S. finance watchdog, rolled out new guidance to eliminate ‘debanking’.
• THE FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), a prominent U.S. finance watchdog, eased its standards for terminating cease-and-desist orders.
•  The U.S. Treasury Department said it would hand over SARs on transactions between Jeffrey Epstein and various parties, including JPMorgan, to the House Oversight Committee.

October

• Rachael Herbert, Director of the UK’s NECC, revealed that police raided thousands of UK high street businesses suspected of being money laundering fronts. She spoke at AML Intelligence’s ‘International Anti-Financial Crime Summit’ 2025.
• The FATF removed South Africa, Mozambique, Nigeria and Burkina Faso from its ‘grey list’.
• Three Mexican banks collapsed after being sanctioned by the U.S. over alleged trafficking links.

November

• Germany’s financial watchdog BaFin fined Frankfurt-based J.P. Morgan SE €45 million for AML deficiencies.
• Ireland’s Central Bank fined crypto exchange Coinbase €21.5 million for failing to properly screen 30 million transactions for money laundering risks
• EU member states agreed on new rules to force social media companies and financial institutions to better protect customers against fraud.

December

• The EU confirmed it intends to diverge from the FATF and add Russia to its AML blacklist.
• Hennie Verbeek-Kusters was selected to become AMLA’s fifth and final Executive Board member, replacing Marcus Pleyer.
• The FATF warned that Belgium is struggling to fight financial crime, after a judge warned that the country risked becoming a ‘narco state’.
• Nationwide Building Society was fined £44 million for a series of AML breaches.