NEWS: FinCEN gives U.S. banks checklist to identify Hezbollah transactions

Regulatory Watch News

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  Investigating Professional Money Laundering, Underground Banking, and the Use of Hawala and Other Similar Service Providers

  FATF

  September 4, 2026

  Underground banking, hawala, and other similar service providers (HOSSPs) are long-standing value-transfer and other financial service systems whose operational practices vary by region and level of sophistication. They function as informal, decentralised networks that are distinct from, though sometimes interconnected with, the formal financial sector. While underground banking and HOSSPs may operate outside or alongside the regulated financial system and may serve legitimate remittance and value-transfer needs, they may also be exploited by criminal actors, including professional money launderers, to facilitate illicit financial activity. Against this background, this report examines the roles, methods and typologies of underground banking and HOSSPs in professional money laundering, as well as the capabilities and responses of competent authorities to these phenomena.

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  FinCEN Identifies Nearly $13 Billion Linked to Suspected Digital Asset Scams Operated by Overseas Scam Centers

  FinCEN

  September 4, 2026

  WASHINGTON—Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published an analysis and an alert to financial institutions to be vigilant to digital asset investment scams perpetrated by overseas scam centers. Today’s action is the latest in Treasury’s efforts to protect Americans from fraud. Digital asset investment scams—also known as “pig butchering,” “romance baiting,” or “cryptocurrency confidence schemes”—are sophisticated fraud operations. Criminals use fake personas and social engineering tactics to manipulate victims, who are often American, into transferring funds to fraudulent digital asset investments. These scams are largely perpetrated by transnational criminal organizations based in Southeast Asia, which operate industrial-scale scam compounds and leverage vast networks of criminal actors to facilitate and profit from scams.  

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  Update to UK Sanctions List: Russia Regime

  UK Government

  September 3, 2026

  Today, Thursday 3^rd September, the UK Government has amended 1 entity designated under the Russia Sanctions Regime. Amended Entity:

  Name:	Unique ID:
  LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY “OZON BANK”	RUS3709