Global AML Roundup: 2025 in Review
In 2025, there was no slowdown in enforcement for financial crime failings. See the roundup of the biggest stories from the past year.
Global Enforcement Trends
Europe
- Monzo - £21M Fine
Neobank Monzo was fined £21m in July for serious and prolonged failings in its AML controls between 2018 and 2020. The FCA highlighted weaknesses across customer due diligence, ongoing monitoring, treatment of high-risk customers and reporting of suspicious activity. Discover more about the specific failings and critical lessons for all financial institutions in our What Went Wrong webinar and report. - Barclays - £42M Fine
Also in July, Barclays was fined £42m after the FCA found serious weaknesses in how it identified and managed financial crime risks in two high-risk client relationships, involving WealthTek and Stunt & Co. - UK Law Firms - Record penalties for AML Failures
Outside banking, UK law firms faced the largest ever AML penalties handed out from the SRA and SDT. Several firms were hit with six-figure fines for failures in firm-wide AML risk assessments, client/matter risk scoring, PEP identification and source-of-funds checks.
- Revolut - €3.5M Fine
Lithuania's Central Bank fined fintech giant Revolut a record-breaking €3.5 million in April for deficiencies related to monitoring business relationships and operations. - Coinbase - €21M Fine
The Central Bank of Ireland fined cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase €21m for breaching its AML/CTF monitoring obligations between 2021 and 2025.
- OKX - $500M+ Penalties
OKX (Aux Cayes Fintech Ltd.), one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency platforms, agreed to pay over $500m in penalties in February for violating AML regulations, allowing users to trade without adequate KYC screening, and facilitating billions of suspicious transactions. - Block Inc - Multiple Penalties
In January, the CFPB ordered Block Inc, owner of Cash App, to provide up to $120m in redress to consumers and pay a significant civil penalty for failures in fraud dispute handling and customer support. In April, U.S. banking regulators followed with a $40m penalty due to AML weaknesses, including inadequate customer identity verification and transaction monitoring. - Robinhood - $45M Fine
In the same month, brokerage platform Robinhood was fined $45m by the SEC for several failings including not reporting suspicious transactions in a timely manner, failing to protect customers from identity theft, not adequately addressing cybersecurity threats.
- Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) fined three banks a total of HK$16.2 million for significant AML/CTF deficiencies. The banks involved were Indian Overseas Bank, Hong Kong Branch (IOBHK), Bank of Communications (Hong Kong) Limited (BCOM(HK)), and Bank of Communications Co., Ltd., Hong Kong Branch (BCOM Hong Kong Branch). - UAE
In May, the Central Bank of the UAE fined two foreign banks Dh18.1m (£3.68m) in total for breaching federal AML/CTF laws and an exchange house Dh200m (£40.1m) for similar failings.
Changes to FATF grey list
The FATF’s “jurisdictions under increased monitoring” list shifted again in 2025, with several notable additions and removals.
Additions to the grey list:
- February: Laos, Nepal
- June: Bolivia and the British Virgin Islands (UK)
- February: Philippines
- June: Croatia, Mali, Tanzania
- October: Senegal
Corruption
Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Push
Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions pursued a series of high-profile investigations. There was a major probe into an alleged $100m kickback scheme in the energy sector, involving senior figures linked to the state-owned nuclear company. This led to searches at the home and office of Andriy Yermak, President Zelenskyy’s powerful chief of staff and lead peace negotiator. Yermak’s subsequent resignation in November was framed by the presidency as a step to avoid distractions and demonstrate the independence of anti-corruption agencies.
Nicolas Sarkozy Sentenced
In September, a Paris court sentenced Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to five years in prison for illegal Libyan funding of his 2007 presidential campaign.
Regulatory Reforms
UK
The UK government confirmed plans to consolidate AML supervision of the legal and accountancy sectors under the FCA, replacing the current patchwork of professional body supervisors. The aim is to reduce inconsistency and tighten oversight. Alongside this, UK Companies House continued implementing reforms from the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, which has created new identity verification requirements for company directors and persons with significant control (PSCs).
EU
2025 was also the year the EU’s new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) formally began work. Headquartered in Frankfurt, AMLA will directly supervise a subset of high-risk entities and coordinate with national AML/CFT supervisors to promote more consistent enforcement across the bloc. Also, the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) entered its first full year of phased application.
Australia
Australia published guidance and deadlines on upcoming “Tranche 2” reforms, which will extend AML/CTF obligations to lawyers, accountants, real-estate agents, trust and company service providers and dealers in precious metals and stones. Discover the essential details in our checklist.
KYC360 Highlights
It was another eventful year for KYC360, with the major story being the acquisition by Experian in November. This strategic move combines strengths, expands capabilities and unlocks new opportunities for innovation and growth in financial crime compliance. It pairs KYC360’s industry-leading Screening, Onboarding and Customer Lifecycle Management (CLM) solutions with Experian’s global data, analytics, identity and fraud prevention expertise. The platform will therefore be uniquely positioned to provide a single, integrated view of risk across financial crime, credit, identity, and fraud. Learn more:
Launch of KYC360 Academy
The year also marked the launch of the KYC360 Academy, the next-generation AML training platform created by Bill Howarth and Stephen Platt, founders of the International Compliance Association (ICA). The Academy offers over 70 CPD-accredited, university-endorsed courses, 10 professional certifications, and 400+ real-world case studies. Learn more:
Platform Innovation
KYC360 continued to innovate its suite of award-winning solutions with key product updates and the launch of the Customer Lifecycle Management (CLM) solution, which helps firms move away from spreadsheet-driven periodic reviews to an efficient event-driven approach with live risk scoring. Learn more:
Industry Recognition
KYC360 received significant industry recognition this year, which included being named Top Automated KYC Software Provider in Europe 2025, recognised as a Category Leader for KYC Solutions, inclusion in the RiskTech100® 2026 and as a top innovator in the RegTech 100 2026.
Conclusion
2025 highlighted that regulators can levy large fines where financial crime prevention frameworks lag behind growth. Many of the biggest penalties related to historical lapses, and successful remediation programmes at some of these institutions have shown how the right combination of people, process, and technology allows compliance to keep pace with commercial growth.
For compliance teams, the direction of travel is clear: continuous, risk-based oversight built on good data, strong governance and well-implemented technology is no longer optional. It is now central to avoiding enforcement actions and turning compliance into a genuine competitive advantage.
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The KYC360 platform is an end-to-end solution offering slicker business processes with a streamlined, automated approach to Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance. This enables our customers to outperform commercially through operational efficiency gains whilst delivering improved customer experience and KYC data quality.
