In February 2026, the Council of the European Union updated its official list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, a tool designed to combat global tax evasion and promote fair governance. The latest revision notably added Vietnam and the Turks and Caicos Islands to the "blacklist" due to deficiencies in their transparency and information exchange frameworks. Conversely, Fiji, Samoa, and Trinidad and Tobago were removed from the list after successfully implementing required legislative reforms. Vietnam has since defended its record, highlighting ongoing efforts to align its domestic laws with OECD standards to maintain a stable investment climate. Jurisdictions remaining on this list face significant consequences, including increased financial scrutiny, restricted access to EU funds, and potential domestic defensive tax measures imposed by individual member states. These updates reflect the EU’s biannual monitoring process, which encourages third countries to adopt international tax good governance and anti-fraud practices.

The 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index reveals a global decline in public sector integrity, with the worldwide average dropping to its lowest level in over a decade. While Denmark continues to lead as the world's cleanest nation, established democracies like the United Kingdom and the United States have reached record-low scores due to political scandals and weakened oversight. In contrast, Estonia has emerged as a top performer by successfully consolidating its anti-corruption frameworks. The sources highlight how "cash-for-access" ventures and the influence of "big money" in politics undermine trust in government institutions. Furthermore, the reports warn that the erosion of justice systems, media freedom, and civic space directly fuels systemic bribery and state capture. Ultimately, these findings suggest that accountable leadership and independent checks are essential to prevent corruption from becoming a permanent feature of political culture.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has significantly expanded its enforcement of financial promotion regulations, specifically targeting high-risk investments like cryptoassets and foreign exchange trading. Recent landmark legal actions include High Court proceedings against the exchange HTX and the successful prosecution of several high-profile reality TV stars for promoting illegal schemes on social media. These "finfluencers" received criminal convictions and fines for providing unauthorised investment advice to millions of followers without proper disclosure or expertise. To support this crackdown, the FCA issued updated guidance detailing how digital marketing must be fair, clear, and not misleading, even within private chatrooms or short-form videos. Firms and individuals now face stricter requirements for risk warnings, cooling-off periods, and appropriateness testing to prevent consumer harm. This global regulatory shift involves cooperation with international partners to disrupt offshore entities and remove non-compliant content from social platforms.

In this episode, we break down the latest U.S. Treasury sanctions targeting the Iranian regime and why they mark a turning point in global financial enforcement. The Department of the Treasury has added several high-ranking Iranian officials and financial facilitators to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, citing their roles in corruption, repression, and support of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

For the first time, these sanctions extend beyond traditional banking channels to include digital asset exchanges, signaling a major escalation in the monitoring of cryptocurrency infrastructure used to evade sanctions. This move highlights growing U.S. scrutiny of virtual finance and its role in geopolitical conflict.

We also explore what these changes mean for compliance and risk professionals, as real-time screening and advanced monitoring become essential in an increasingly complex sanctions landscape. Finally, we touch on the removal of certain entities from previous sanctions lists, underscoring how dynamic and fast-moving international sanctions management has become.

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In the full episode, we unpack the Australian Government AI Technical Standard and how it guides agencies in adopting artificial intelligence responsibly. The standard introduces a clear AI system lifecycle—Discover, Operate, and Retire—providing a structured approach to designing, deploying, and decommissioning AI systems. We explore how national AI ethics principles are translated into practical technical requirements, including human-centred design, strong data quality controls, and rigorous performance testing. The conversation also dives into key governance measures such as bias mitigation, transparency through AI watermarking, and robust version control. Together, these safeguards aim to ensure regulatory compliance, reduce risk, and build lasting public trust in government-led AI initiatives.

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In the full episode, we unpack the £160,000 fine issued by the UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI against the Bank of Scotland in November 2025 for breaches of Russia-related sanctions. Regulators found that a designated individual—former Sevastopol governor Dmitrii Ovsiannikov—was able to open an account and process 24 prohibited transactions without detection.

The failure stemmed from weaknesses in both automated sanctions screening and manual compliance reviews, which overlooked a spelling variation in the customer’s name. While the initial penalty was significantly higher, the bank received a 50% reduction after voluntarily disclosing the issue to authorities.

Drawing on wider government reports and industry analysis, the episode explores how minor data gaps can lead to serious regulatory exposure. We also examine the UK’s growing emphasis on intelligence-led sanctions enforcement and what this case signals for financial institutions navigating an increasingly unforgiving compliance landscape.

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In the full episode, we break down the European Banking Authority’s newly issued guidelines designed to standardise how financial institutions across the EU implement restrictive measures and sanctions controls. The rules apply broadly to banks, payment service providers, and crypto-asset firms, aiming to eliminate inconsistencies in how sanctions are enforced across member states.

At the heart of the framework is a mandatory restrictive measures exposure assessment, requiring firms to evaluate how their specific business models, customers, and geographies expose them to sanctions risk. This assessment is meant to directly inform risk management strategies, screening systems, and internal controls.

The guidelines also introduce clear accountability requirements, including the appointment of a senior staff member responsible for sanctions compliance with direct reporting lines to the management body. We explore additional operational expectations such as screening calibration, staff training, escalation processes, and obligations around asset freezing and potential sanctions matches.

Overall, the episode explains how these EBA standards represent a major step toward intelligence-led, harmonised enforcement across the EU—and why firms that fail to adapt risk falling behind in an increasingly stringent regulatory environment.

In this Compliance Officers Playbook episode, we uncover the rapid rise of transnational organised crime networks spreading across Southeast Asia—and how digital technology is supercharging their reach. From fortified scam compounds in Myanmar and Cambodia to billions of dollars laundered through crypto, these criminal syndicates are fusing illegal online gambling with cyber-enabled fraud on an industrial scale.

We break down how trafficked workers are forced to run sophisticated “pig butchering” romance and investment scams, and how criminals are weaponising AI deepfakes, custom malware, and social engineering to outsmart even the most tech-savvy victims. The episode also explores the shadowy financial infrastructure behind these operations, including underground banking networks, anonymous money mules, and the growing use of stablecoins like USDT to move and clean illicit funds.

Finally, we examine the global response—from US Department of Justice strike forces to record-breaking asset seizures—and why law enforcement is still struggling to keep pace with the professionalisation of crime-as-a-service. This is the story of how organised crime went digital, and why stopping it is harder than ever.

This episode explores a fundamental shift in risk leadership as organisations look toward 2026—one that moves beyond surface-level compliance and toward risk as a driver of meaningful decision-making. We examine why traditional tools like risk heatmaps often fail to deliver value and how risk management only becomes effective when it influences corporate choices before problems materialise.

The discussion places strong emphasis on accountability and governance, challenging organisational structures where ownership is unclear or uncomfortable truths are diluted for senior leadership. We also highlight the critical role of healthy escalation cultures, showing how suppressing bad news can turn manageable risks into inevitable losses.

Ultimately, this episode reframes risk not as a control function, but as a strategic capability—one that strengthens resilience and prepares organisations to navigate multiple future scenarios with confidence.

This episode examines the rapidly evolving fight against financial crime, with a particular focus on the wholesale brokerage sector and the critical role of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). Drawing on insights from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), we explore key vulnerabilities in capital markets and why firms must combine effective transaction monitoring with strong customer risk assessments.

We also look at recent regulatory updates and industry developments showing how artificial intelligence and large language models are transforming SAR reporting—improving both detection accuracy and the quality of investigative narratives. Supporting data from the National Crime Agency and the ICAEW highlights a sharp increase in SAR submissions, while also revealing persistent under-reporting in sectors such as accountancy.

The episode concludes by emphasizing collaboration between regulators, law enforcement, and private firms. As financial crime techniques grow more sophisticated, the industry must adopt innovative technologies, strengthen governance frameworks, and invest in staff training to protect market integrity and combat money laundering effectively.