November 23 - UK regulator and City watchdog, The Financial Conduct Authority [ FCA ], has been investigating Airbnb’s money-laundering and counter-terrorist financing controls, it was revealed in the platform’s S-1 filing last week for a projected initial public offering [ IPO ] next month. The FCA scrutinised Airbnb over concerns that the UK division’s safeguarding controls on its payment system are inadequate and leave a gap for money launderers or terrorist financiers to exploit it by recruiting hosts and booking fake stays.

November 21 - The G20 must start leading by example and act now to stop money laundering, said the Financial Action Task Force president Marcus Pleyer. “There are hundreds of ways to conceal the source of illicit money. It is one reason why so many countries’ financial systems are exposed to money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing. Yet even as the G20 publicly calls for the full implementation of Financial Action Task Force standards around the globe, not all G20 members have taken effective action to make a real difference,” Pleyer wrote in his article titled ‘Lead by Example’.

November 19 - Two Maryland brothers were arrested Monday on federal charges of money laundering as part of an international conspiracy that took $5 million from victims, ranging in age from 38 to 83. David Annor, 27, and Lesley Annor, 22, both of Gaithersburg, are charged with laundering money for co-conspirators in other nations, including Ghana, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur.

November 18 - European Union finance ministers have agreed to create an EU body that will tackle money laundering across all of its member nations. The agreement supports a European Commission proposal that was originally made in May this year. The Council of Finance ministers also gave their backing to plans for the Commission to harmonise EU anti-money laundering rules and give the Financial Intelligence Units of EU countries support and help coordinating efforts to tackle the problem.

November 17 - Under fire for anti-money laundering failures, a group of Belgium’s biggest banks proposed the creation of a platform to exchange information about suspect transactions with Belgian authorities and one other, as efforts to stem the flow of dirty money gather force globally. In testimony before the Belgian parliament’s finance committee last week, the Belgian banks — ING Belgium, KBC Bank, Belfius Bank and Insurance and BNP Paribas Fortis — jointly asked for laws allowing them to set up a secure system to share information about suspected money laundering and the shadowy entities behind the transactions.

November 16 - On June 1, 2021, a number of regulatory amendments will come into force which will create or change obligations for reporting entities (REs) that are subject to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (the Act).

November 16 - Whether knowingly or not, lawyers are at a high risk of being used by criminals hoping to clean dirty money, B.C.’s Cullen Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering heard Monday. Federal officials said lawyers are the profession with the second-highest rate of prosecution for money laundering.