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Wise: A Compliance-Last Mindset?
June 4th, 2026 On June 1st, 2026, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ) revealed that the money transfer firm Wise is under investigation by Belgian authorities over concerns that its accounts are being used to launder proceeds of fraud, corruption, and drug trafficking. This isn’t the first time Wise’s AML controls have come under scrutiny, and the recurring pattern of…
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The FCA’s Sanctions Review: Strong Controls Mean Nothing Without Governance and Oversight
June 2nd, 2026 On May 28th, 2026, the FCA published its review of 150 supervised firms across a range of financial services sectors, assessing their sanctions systems and controls related to financial and trade sanctions. The FCA’s findings reveal a gap in governance and oversight of the overall sanctions framework. One of the areas the FCA investigated was Management Information…
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Deutsche Bank’s Sanctions Breach Exposes the Risks of Downstream Customer Oversight
May 28th, 2026 On May 19th, 2026, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) fined the London office of Deutsche Bank £165,000 for processing two payments totalling £635,618.75 on behalf of a client to their beneficiary Okko, a company owned by Russian-sanctioned entity JSC New Opportunities. What stands out in this case is that Okko itself wasn’t Deutsche’s client, but…