UK takes FATF presidency and puts fraud at the centre of the global AML agenda

What happened

The United Kingdom assumed the presidency of FATF (the Financial Action Task Force) on 1 July 2026. Its term runs the 2026 to 2028 cycle. Giles Thomson holds the presidency from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2028. To open the term, the UK launched the FATF 2026 to 2028 Roadmap on Combatting Fraud, which FATF describes as its global response to the fraud epidemic. AML Intelligence reported the announcement.

The UK presidency set three priorities. First, step up the international response to the fraud epidemic, including the money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks from scam compounds. Second, strengthen the risk-based approach and risk-based supervision. Third, enhance information sharing and public-private partnerships.

FATF put numbers behind the priority. It said nearly 90 percent of assessments in its previous round of mutual evaluations identified fraud as a major proceeds-generating offence. FATF also estimated that scams cost nearly $500 billion during 2024 to 2025. The roadmap will examine the financial flows around scam compounds, and review the transnational criminal organisations committing fraud. The toolkit it promotes includes freezing and seizing assets, suspending fraudulent transactions, and enhancing cross-border intelligence sharing.

Why it matters

Fraud now sits at the centre of the global anti-money laundering (AML) agenda for two years. That is a direction signal. When FATF names a priority, national assessors follow, and the next mutual-evaluation cycle tends to test what the president flagged.

The framing matters as much as the figure. FATF is not treating fraud as a predicate afterthought. It is targeting the money trails around scam compounds and the transnational networks that run them, which ties fraud typologies directly to laundering controls.

One question stays open: how quickly national supervisors translate the roadmap into examination criteria. The priorities are set. The supervisory expectations that follow are what will reach your desk.

Practitioner angle

Expect fraud-proceeds typologies and scam-compound exposure to feature in the next FATF assessment cycle. Prepare for it now.

• Link fraud alerts and money-laundering alerts into one picture. Treat a fraud case as a laundering lead, not a separate queue.
• Review your exposure to scam-compound payment corridors, and map which corridors and counterparties carry that risk.
• Invest in public-private information sharing and in your cross-border request handling, because the roadmap leans on both.
• Pressure-test your ability to freeze, seize, and suspend suspicious transactions at speed.

Start with the fraud-to-laundering linkage. If your fraud team and your AML team still work from separate alerts, connect them first, because that single view is what the next assessment cycle will expect.