Anti Money Laundering News (26 Jan – 01 Feb 2026)
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Global AML News Weekly Digest. Here are the top stories making headlines around the world:
🇩🇪 German police raid Deutsche Bank offices in money-laundering investigation
German federal police and prosecutors searched multiple offices of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt and Berlin as part of an ongoing money-laundering investigation. The searches were linked to suspected failures in monitoring suspicious transactions connected to cross-border payments processed by the bank.
Authorities said the action was taken to secure documents and electronic records relevant to the probe. Deutsche Bank stated it was cooperating fully with investigators and emphasised that the searches related to historical transactions rather than current operations. No fines or charges were announced at this stage, but the case underscores continued scrutiny of large banks’ AML controls in Germany.
🇬🇧 Lloyds Banking Group fined £160,000 for UK sanctions and AML screening failures
The UK’s sanctions enforcement authority fined Lloyds Banking Group £160,000 for breaches of financial sanctions screening requirements, which regulators said exposed weaknesses relevant to AML controls.
The penalty related to failures in the bank’s screening systems that allowed sanctioned payments to be processed. Regulators noted that while the breaches were not deliberate, Lloyds did not have sufficiently robust controls in place at the time. Lloyds accepted the findings and said it had since strengthened its sanctions and AML compliance frameworks.
Crypto money laundering reached $82 billion in 2025, researchers say
Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis reported that illicit cryptocurrency transactions linked to money laundering totalled approximately $82 billion in 2025, highlighting growing challenges for AML enforcement in digital assets.
The report cited the increasing use of mixers, decentralised platforms, and cross-chain bridges to obscure illicit fund flows. Law-enforcement agencies worldwide have responded with more seizures, prosecutions, and regulatory pressure on crypto service providers, but researchers warned that enforcement continues to lag technological innovation.
🇮🇳 India proposes daily penalties for crypto AML reporting violations
India’s government proposed amendments in its federal budget to introduce daily financial penalties for failures to comply with crypto-asset transaction reporting requirements tied to AML obligations.
Under the proposal, crypto intermediaries that fail to submit required transaction data could face fines of ₹200 per day per default, strengthening enforcement under India’s AML framework. Officials said the measure is intended to close compliance gaps and improve regulatory visibility over digital-asset activity linked to money laundering risks.
🇨🇳 Chinese national sentenced in $36.9 million crypto money-laundering case
A Chinese court sentenced a Chinese national for operating a cryptocurrency-based money-laundering scheme involving approximately $36.9 million in illicit funds.
Prosecutors said the defendant used crypto wallets and exchanges to help criminal groups move and conceal proceeds from fraud and other predicate offences. The conviction reflects China’s continued use of criminal prosecutions as a key AML enforcement tool against large-scale laundering networks.
🇲🇾 Bank Negara Malaysia fines four firms over AML/CFT compliance failures
Malaysia’s central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, imposed administrative monetary penalties totalling RM1.07 million on four regulated entities for breaches of AML/CFT requirements.
The regulator cited failures including inadequate customer due diligence, weaknesses in transaction monitoring, and insufficient internal controls. Bank Negara said the enforcement action was taken to reinforce compliance expectations and deter future violations, adding that institutions must maintain effective AML frameworks proportionate to their risk exposure.
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