Large supermarket ends motorsport sponsorships amid money laundering investigation

Regulatory Watch News

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  DFSA Annual Report 2024 published: a year marking key regulatory developments, continuous supervisory activity, and strengthened stakeholder engagement

  DFSA

  May 5, 2025

  Key Highlights from the DFSA Annual Report 2024:

  • Introduction of updated regulatory frameworks for audit, crypto, and client assets.
  • 10 consultation papers and eight thematic review reports published, reinforcing transparency and alignment with international best practices.
  • Enforcement action taken against five firms and three individuals, resulting in fines totalling USD 2.5 million.
  • 154 new firms licensed and registered, bringing the total to 902 regulated entities – a 14% increase from 2023, led by a 75% surge in wealth management licence issuances.
  • The DIFC remains one of the world’s largest jurisdictions for the issuance of listed sukuk with USD 95.4 billion of outstanding sukuk listings.
  • The DFSA is now a signatory to 117 bilateral Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), five multilateral MoUs, and eight innovation agreements – facilitating regulatory cooperation and collaboration.

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  AFP, INTERPOL and EUROPOL partnerships protecting Australia and its interests

  Australia Federal Police

  May 5, 2025

  It’s shared information on a new type of drug concealment seen in Melbourne that leads to the smashing of a drug cartel in Chile and arrests in Spain. It’s a report of utes stolen in Sydney that opens further investigative avenues when the same vehicles turn up in Sudan. It’s taking control of a ransomware dark web site to target and disrupt ransomware and share thousands of intelligence packages to 33 countries to assist victims.

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  FinCEN Finds Cambodia-Based Huione Group to be of Primary Money Laundering Concern, Proposes a Rule to Combat Cyber Scams and Heists

  FinCEN

  May 2, 2025

  WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a finding and notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) pursuant to Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act that identifies Cambodia-based Huione Group as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern and proposes to sever its access to the U.S. financial system. Huione Group serves as a critical node for laundering proceeds of cyber heists carried out by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and for transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) in Southeast Asia perpetrating convertible virtual currency (CVC) investment scams, commonly known as “pig butchering” scams, as well as other types of CVC-related scams. Given the money laundering risk posed by Huione Group, FinCEN is proposing to prohibit U.S. financial institutions from opening or maintaining correspondent or payable-through accounts for or on behalf of Huione Group.