News & Insights

FATF places Singapore in regular follow up after 2026 evaluation

FATF and APG placed Singapore in regular follow-up after the 2026 mutual evaluation, praising coordination and MAS supervision while calling for sharper AML/CFT/CPF outcomes across complex money laundering, beneficial ownership, VASPs and proliferation financing.

2026-05-14

METI and NEDO back AI-Ready data and robotics models under GENIAC

On 14 May 2026, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization selected nine AI-Ready industrial data R&D themes and two robotic foundation model themes under the [GENIA

2026-05-14

Commission opens AI Act transparency consultation before August duties

The European Commission is seeking feedback by 3 June 2026 on draft AI Act transparency guidelines that explain user-notice and content-labelling obligations due from 2 August 2026.

2026-05-13

EU AI Office opens anonymous reporting channel for AI Act breaches

The AI Office has launched an anonymous reporting tool for harmful practices linked to general-purpose AI models and certain AI systems, with confidentiality safeguards and staged anti-retaliation protection.

2026-05-13

Bank of Israel says digital shekel benefits outweigh costs

The Bank of Israel published its 2025 Digital Shekel Project progress report on 13 May 2026, concluding that the economic benefits of issuing a central bank digital currency would outweigh the associated costs.

2026-05-13

Poland orders 12,000 school AI labs under €430m KPO tranche

[Poland](https://www.gov.pl/web/cyfryzacja/otwarcie-ofert-wykonawcow-na-dostawe-12-tysiecy-pracowni-sztucznej-inteligencji-dla-szkol)'s Ministry of Digital Affairs said NASK-PIB opened contractor offers on 12 May 2026 for 12,000 artificial

2026-05-13

COAF fines five high-value goods firms R$6.4m for AML failures

[Brazil](https://www.gov.br/coaf/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/ultimas-noticias/coaf-examina-5-processos-na-sessao-de-julgamento-de-abril)'s Financial Activities Control Council (COAF) published on 7 May 2026 the outcomes of five Administrative S

2026-05-13

RBI revokes Mumbai co-operative bank licence, orders wind-up

The Reserve Bank of India cancelled the licence of Sarvodaya Co-operative Bank Ltd, Mumbai under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 on 12 May 2026.

2026-05-13

CIMA orders same-day freeze and reporting on UK sanctions updates

The [Cayman Islands Monetary Authority](https://www.cima.ky/upimages/unandeusanction/FinancialSanctions-11May2026_1778514345.pdf) issued a Financial Sanctions Notice on 11 May 2026 attaching UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office lis

2026-05-13

Senacon fines BRB R$500k a day over auto-debit cancellation refusals

Senacon issued precautionary measures on 13 May 2026 requiring Banco de Brasília to recognise consumers' right to cancel automatic debits linked to credit operations, including salary accounts, after the bank had refused those requests.

2026-05-13

EU Commission sets liquidity buffer rules for money market funds

The European Commission on 11 May 2026 published a report and FAQs on money market fund liquidity buffers, setting expectations on minimum liquidity levels and the conditions under which managers may draw on buffers to meet redemptions duri

2026-05-11

New York AG proposes bills to ban surveillance pricing and ESLs

New York Attorney General's Office promoted the ‘One Fair Price’ package and the ‘Protecting Consumers and Jobs from Discriminatory Pricing Act’ 8616/A.9396 on 19 October 2023. The proposals target surveillance pricing practices and electro

2026-05-09

CONSOB blocks 23 crypto websites under MiCAR powers

On 7 May 2026, CONSOB, invoking Italy’s Legislative Decree No. 129/2024 under the MiCAR framework, directed Italian ISPs to disable access to 23 domains delivering and marketing unauthorised crypto-asset services to Italian investors, accor

2026-05-09

Latvia’s DVI mandates equal cookie consent options for websites

Latvia’s Data State Inspectorate (DVI) published an explanation regarding cookie banners on 20 October 2023. The notice focuses on valid consent for non-essential cookies and design choices that undermine user choice, with an explicit call

2026-05-09

Albanian Assembly questions Jet Bank licensing amid BoA oversight

The Bank of Albania's exclusive remit over licensing framed a parliamentary interpellation on the proposed digital Jet Bank on 17 October 2023.

2026-05-09

Finland amends security assessment laws to streamline IT evaluations

Finland's Ministry of Finance submitted a bill to amend security assessment laws on 7 May 2026, designating a Defence Command role over authorities' IT assessments. The package targets authorities’ information systems and communication arra

2026-05-08

MAS proposes amendments to enable dual listings and streamline IPOs

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has presented the Securities and Futures (Amendment) Bill.

2026-05-08

Swedish Gambling Authority reviews compliance of betting licensees

The Swedish Gambling Authority opened a review on 6 May 2026 of betting licensees’ adherence to Chapter 2 of its regulations and general advice SIFS 2020:2 on restricted and prohibited betting to prevent manipulation of outcomes in sport.

2026-05-06

Isle of Man FSA closes consultation on four-Act amendment Bill

The Revised Bill amending four Acts now sits with HM Attorney General's Chambers but has not been laid before Tynwald — leaving roughly 600 Isle of Man licenceholders with no commencement date to plan against.

2026-04-28

Danish Ombudsman fines NightPay over e-money redemption failures

Danish e-money issuers running legacy app infrastructure now face two distinct control obligations — redemption mechanics and pre-closure notice — after the Ombudsman's April 2026 precedent crystallises both as separately enforceable duties.

2026-04-28

Anthropic gives Australia direct AI adoption data feed in first National AI Plan MOU

The Economic Index data-sharing clause gives Canberra sectoral AI adoption telemetry no comparable jurisdiction holds — Australian deployers gain a reference point, not a compliance shortcut, and cross-border obligations remain unaffected.

2026-04-28

Japan's NPA targets offshore casino operators in 317-action sweep

The 25 September revision to Japan's addiction law pulls affiliate and referral sites into criminal exposure for the first time — offshore operators with Japanese-facing traffic now face simultaneous advertiser and operator liability.

2026-04-27

Spillemyndigheden hits 25syv with seven AML breaches and three orders

Seven concurrent findings on the same operator signal Spillemyndigheden treating PEP-screening and risk-assessment gaps as systemic — Danish licensees face a one-month remediation clock starting 20 April 2026.

2026-04-27

NBS flags unauthorised crypto platforms in consumer advisory

The NBS's post-transitional sweep confirms active monitoring of unlicensed operators after the 30 December 2024 deadline — any platform still unregistered now operates in plain sight of the regulator.

2026-04-27

OSC flags nine unregistered investment operators in single update

Nine unregistered solicitors flagged in a single OSC batch — Ontario compliance teams must verify registration status before any client engagement, as IOSCO's I-SCAN network has already extended the alert globally.

2026-04-26

FINTRAC flags extortion typologies targeting South Asian diaspora

Over 100 disclosures in under four months reframe the bulletin as an operational baseline: every Canadian reporting entity must map these extortion typologies to existing STR workflows now, with no grace period.

2026-04-26

Japan AISI updates AI attack taxonomy ahead of METI liability rules

The second-edition taxonomy sets the vocabulary METI will apply when allocating civil liability to deployers in April 2026 — making red-team scoping against its categories a procurement prerequisite, not a best-practice option.

2026-04-25

Reserve Bank of New Zealand extends Keeping Cash Local consultation deadline to 31 July 2026 amid record response vol...

New Zealand-registered banks now have until 31 July 2026 to file submissions, but RBNZ's signal of post-close bilateral engagement means compliance teams that treat the extension as downtime risk exclusion from implementation design.

2026-04-25

Thai police nab suspected Chinese iGaming kingpin

Thai police and cybercrime investigators in the country have detained suspected Chinese crime boss Pei Min Si.

The Next Frontier of Supply Chain Security: Congress Trains Its Sights on Robotics

In introducing the American Security Robotics Act of 2026, Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have extended a now familiar congressional playbook into a new and consequential domain:  robotics.  The bill would prohibit executive agencies from procuring or operating unmanne

SEC Exempts Crypto Interfaces From Broker Registration

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Monday (April 13) that it will not object to specified providers of user interfaces for crypto asset transactions creating, offering or operating those interfaces without registering as a broker-dealer. These interfaces include specified ones provid

Hong Kong delays start of legal basketball betting, blames prediction markets

Hong Kong lawmakers have suspended the launch of basketball betting, scheduled for September.

Federal Government Sues Illinois, Connecticut, Arizona Over Prediction Markets Regulation

The federal government has escalated the prediction market battle, suing three states and setting up a direct clash over who controls the emerging sector. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has stepped directly into the prediction market dispute, filing lawsuits against Arizona, Connect

Dutch Gaming Authority funds projects to tackle gambling-related harm

The allocation of funding comes as the KSA concluded an investigation into the access by minors to legal online gambling platforms.

Daily Asia Gaming eBrief: Hong Kong shelves basketball betting over prediction market fears

Pause and think. Hong Kong authorities have put plans for basketball betting on hold, citing concerns that prediction markets may attract users to unregulated platforms and indirectly support illegal wagering. With global trading volumes surging and sports-related activity gaining traction, official

Nevada Court Extends Kalshi Ban, Signals Preliminary Injunction

Nevada moves toward a long-term ban on Kalshi after a judge ruled its contracts are “indistinguishable” from sports betting. A Nevada state judge has extended the ban on Kalshi and signaled he will grant the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s (NGCB) request for a preliminary injunction, marking the most

CFTC Names Task Force to Set AI and Prediction Market Rules

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced the members of its newly formed Innovation Task Force (ITF). The CFTC said in March that it was launching the ITF and that the task force would be dedicated to advancing “clear rules of the road” for those who want to build novel product

Ohio regulator imposes $5 million fine on Kalshi for unlicensed sports betting operations

The Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) has issued a $5 million fine against Kalshi, saying the federally regulated prediction market operated unlicensed sports gaming in the state. The fine, announced on Tuesday, follows the OCCC’s determination that Kalshi’s sports event contracts are substanti

Agentic AI’s governance challenges under the EU AI Act in 2026

AI agents hold the promise of automatically moving data between systems and triggering decisions, but in some cases, they can act without a clear record of what, when, and why they undertook their tasks. That has the potential to create a governance problem, for which IT leaders are ultimately respo

CFTC Gets Judge to Block Arizona’s Prediction Market Prosecution

Federal regulators have convinced a judge to prohibit Arizona from prosecuting predictions market Kalshi. The U.S. District Court for the District Arizona on Friday (April 10) granted a temporary restraining order that prevents Arizona from pursuing criminal charges against contract markets that ar

EDPB issues guidance on personal data processing for scientific research and approves first European data protection seal

At its April 2026 plenary, the EDPB adopted Guidelines 1/2026 on processing personal data for scientific research purposes and approved the first European data protection seal as a recognised transfer mechanism under Article 46 GDPR. The plenary also established a dedicated team to accelerate finalisation of the pending anonymisation guidelines. Controllers processing research data and organisations relying on certification for international data transfers are directly affected.

Global Finance Chiefs Call for Mythos Information Sharing

Government officials and bankers outside the United States are concerned that they may not receive the same information-sharing as their American counterparts when it comes to Anthropic’s Mythos artificial intelligence (AI) model, Bloomberg reported Thursday (April 16). It is not known how much det

NBFIRA releases Botswana national ML TF risk assessment covering virtual asset sector under revised 2025 framework

NBFIRA published Botswana's 2025 National Risk Assessment report on 16 April 2026, identifying money laundering and terrorist financing risks across the virtual asset sector under the Virtual Assets Act 2022 as amended in 2025, with findings covering VASP supervision and licensing.

Russia-linked crypto exchange Grinex halts trading after $14M hack

Grinex has been accused by US authorities of assisting Russia and other entities in evading sanctions and laundering funds for Russia-linked hackers.

Crypto Exchange Kraken Prepares for IPO

Kraken Co-CEO Arjun Sethi said Tuesday (April 14) that the crypto exchange confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO), Semafor reported Tuesday. Sethi shared this news at a Semafor World Economy event in Washington, D.C., according to the report. Kraken aims to help its customers mak

Brazil’s PT Party presents bill to kill Bets law

PT government’s legal executive calls on congress to repeal the Bets Law, but where is Lula’s endorsement?  The legislative caucus of Brazil’s Workers’ Party (PT) has submitted Bill PL-1808/2026, proposing an outright federal ban on “online gambling” to Congress. The mandate, formally presente

Hungary: How much control is TISZA willing to give up on gambling?

The landslide victory of TISZA (the Freedom & Reform Party) in last Sunday’s General Election has raised hopes of a much-needed social and economic revival in Hungary. Though, Western outlets have framed the win of TISZA and its leader, Péter Magyar, as a victory for ‘Europe’s democratic values’

Kentucky Passes House Bill 904: Sports Betting Age Rises to 21 and Oversight Framework Expands

Kentucky lawmakers have passed House Bill 904, raising the minimum sports betting age to 21 and expanding the regulatory oversight framework.

Sanctions and (digital) payment services: Closing the backdoors to Russia

With Regulation (EU) 2025/2033, the EU has broadened its restrictive framework by extending sanctions beyond crypto-asset services to a defined set of payment and electronic money services. The framework constructs targeted prohibitions around specific regulated services identified by reference to PSD2 and EMD2, treating crypto-assets as functionally equivalent channels of value transfer subject to the same constraints as traditional payment infrastructures.

Kentucky lawmakers override governor's veto to implement new sports betting regulations

A wide-ranging overhaul of Kentucky’s sports betting laws will take effect in 90 days after lawmakers voted Tuesday to override a veto by Gov. Andy Beshear, clearing the way for new age limits, betting restrictions, and regulatory changes. The measure, House Bill 904, introduces a series of shifts