Fighting Financial Crime & AML / Sanctions – the FCA’s focus in 2026

This year one of the key focus areas of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) promises to be financial crime – including money laundering, sanctions compliance and wider integrity risks - this has been sharpened in line with their 2025-30 priorities (which can be found here: Our strategy 2025 to 2030).

A key shift is that the FCA is taking on the role of sole AML and counter-terrorist financing supervisor for a much broader range of firms - previously overseen by 22 professional body supervisors - and including some of HMRC’s current remit.

This consolidation means that baseline standards will rise. The FCA will need to ensure that this unified regime is robust and risk-based, which means more scrutiny on whether firms can evidence their AML framework clearly, and this is certainly in-line with the FCA’s financial crime focus.

Alongside the supervisory shift, the underlying legislative and regulatory framework is being updated. Draft amendments to the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2019 – published in 2025 – are expected to translate into final rules soon. These changes, along with updated guidance, aim to make the regime more proportionate and risk-sensitive.

Meanwhile, the FCA’s own supervisory strategy emphasises using data and digital intelligence to identify high-risk firms or individuals and act quickly when issues emerge.

For larger firms, robust compliance structures will already exist, but for smaller firms, 2026 presents challenges as well as opportunities. Even firms that previously fell outside of traditional AML/CTF supervision may now come under FCA oversight.

The consolidation of sanctions designations into a single list under the new UK Sanctions List streamlines the basis for sanction assessments but also raises the bar for compliance. Firms must ensure that systems and personnel are in place to check, screen, and monitor against that list on an ongoing basis.

Recent fines and enforcement actions (2025 fines | FCA) make clear the FCA is ready to penalise failings. Some of the biggest penalties in 2025 related to financial crime compliance breakdowns.

For firms already supervised by the regulator, the shift toward a single AML supervisor does not create new rules, but it will sharpen expectations around how the FCA financial crime requirements are applied. As the FCA takes on these responsibilities from multiple professional bodies, it will word to ensure high standards across all sectors. In practice, this means firms can expect tighter scrutiny of risk assessments and a greater emphasis on evidencing that controls are embedded and regularly reviewed.

Firms that were previously supervised by less stringent bodies will now be held to the same FCA AML requirements as established financial services firms. While this alignment is positive for the integrity of the system, it increases the importance for existing FCA-regulated firms to ensure their training and oversight arrangements are fully up to date.

If your firm operates under UK regulation – particularly if you are within the newly expanded scope of FCA AML/CTF supervision, now is the time to act. Carry out a full risk review, update your compliance frameworks and ensure your team is trained and ready.

Our AML and Financial Crime online training courses cover everything from AML, fraud, and bribery basics to ongoing monitoring and suspicious activity reporting. Each online course is accessible at the delegate’s convenience, and provides a certificate upon successful completion, allowing firms to track and record each user’s progress.  For large groups, we can offer a simplified enrolment service and pricing, simply email Robert.bell@rbcompliance.co.uk.