The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined oil and gas consultant Russel Gerrity £309,843 for insider dealing after he used confidential drilling information to generate personal trading profits of £128,765. The enforcement action highlights the FCA’s continued focus on market abuse and the critical role of surveillance and industry reporting in detecting misconduct. Between October 2018 and January 2022, Mr Gerrity exploited inside information obtained through his consu

A Delhi-based businessman has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison by a US court for conspiring to illegally export controlled aviation components from Oregon to Russia, underscoring the continued convergence of export controls, sanctions enforcement and national security priorities. Sanjay Kaushik, 58, was sentenced in Portland, Oregon on 16 January 2026, alongside 36 months of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy under the Export Control Reform A

The High Court has upheld the Payment Systems Regulator’s (PSR) authority to regulate payment systems, backing its powers to impose a cap on cross-border interchange fees. The judgment, delivered on 15 January 2026, represents a significant affirmation of the PSR’s statutory remit and its role in safeguarding competition and service user interests across the UK payments landscape. The legal challenge arose in response to the PSR’s proposal to cap cross-border interchange fees

When the UK Fintech Academic Network convened in May 2025, a provocative question echoed across its panels and breakouts: has open banking become a white elephant? Eight months later, that critique still surfaces in boardrooms and fintech forums, but it increasingly collides with evidence that open banking has moved from “initiative” to embedded infrastructure. A project once heralded as a revolution in consumer finance is now being judged for its limited visibility and uneve

US authorities have charged a key figure in a Chinese-linked money laundering network accused of laundering tens of millions of dollars in drug trafficking proceeds through sophisticated mirror transaction schemes. The case underscores the central role of professional laundering networks in sustaining the global fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine trade. Yan Lin, 41, of California, appeared in federal court in Cincinnati on 8 January 2026 following the unsealing of an indic

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has secured a £265,523.96 confiscation order against Andrew Currie, a former director linked to the collapsed peer-to-peer lending platform Collateral (UK) Ltd, marking another significant step in its efforts to strip fraudsters of illicit gains and return funds to victims. Currie was convicted in 2023 and sentenced to 2 years and 6 months’ imprisonment after defrauding investors through Collateral, a platform that raised funds from retai

It has been twelve months since I last wrote about Phi , the 58.5-metre superyacht detained under the UK's Russia sanctions regime. In that time, nothing has changed. She remains where she has been since 2022, moored in the same spot at Canary Wharf, her bright blue hull fading under the weather and her once-impeccable finish showing signs of neglect. Each morning I see her from our apartment window, an unmissable silhouette against the water. What was once a temporary act of

A former TD Bank employee has pleaded guilty to facilitating one of the largest insider-enabled money laundering schemes prosecuted in recent years, exposing serious weaknesses in frontline controls, insider risk management and transaction reporting frameworks at large retail banks. On 6 January 2026, Wilfredo Aquino, a former assistant store manager at TD Bank N A, admitted to conspiring to launder monetary instruments while employed at the bank. Between 2019 and February 20

Financial crime compliance has always been shaped by the information available to us. We trust media reports, legal filings, regulatory notices, and increasingly, online data streams to help identify risk. As adverse media screening evolves from keyword search to machine-led intelligence, many firms have embraced the promise of scale. The claim that artificial intelligence can scan eight million data sources a day feels like an irresistible answer to a complex problem. Yet th

The financial services industry has long relied on employees to act as a final line of defence against misconduct. From exposing...

The US Department of the Treasury has convened a FinCEN Exchange bringing together global financial institutions, US federal law enforcement agencies and Treasury officials to strengthen efforts to identify and dismantle sophisticated money laundering networks. The Immediate Release, dated 19 December 2025, underscores the growing regulatory and enforcement focus on Chinese money laundering networks and their role in facilitating transnational organised crime. The Exchange fo