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25 August 2026 · Sanctions movements

1220 list changes in 28 days

The last 28 days on the sanctions lists, 28 July – 24 August 2026: 1220 changes — 375 additions, 132 removals and 713 amendments across the EU, OFAC, UK…

24 August 2026 · Weekly briefing

The week in AML

Quiet weeks in AML are the ones that catch files out. This week's only development is procedural — Barbados, Namibia, and Thailand joining the FATF Guest…

22 August 2026 · Sanctions movements

The week dissected: 88 changes

The week dissected, 17–21 August 2026: 50 additions, 0 removals and 38 amendments across the EU, OFAC, UK and UN lists. Who the entries concern: 47…

21 August 2026 · Regulator commentary

The derogation has a clock

Cyprus onboarding desks rarely argue about whether verification is required. They argue about when, and how long a client can sit on the books unverified…

21 August 2026 · Regulator commentary

A draft, and a deadline

A Cyprus compliance officer who has wanted someone at EU level to say what ongoing monitoring actually requires now has a text to read and a window to…

21 August 2026 · Practice notes

25% is only an indication

A client sends you a certificate of incorporation, a share register naming one corporate shareholder abroad, and a director that is itself a company…

21 August 2026 · Practice notes

A PEP is three people

In Cyprus law a politically exposed person is three people: the holder of a prominent public function, an immediate close relative, and a person known to…

21 August 2026 · Change log

47 OFAC added

47 added, 13 amended on the sanctions lists on 21 August 2026. The bulk landed in OFAC's counter-narcotics programme (US-NARCO, 25 entries). Top country…

20 August 2026 · Regulator commentary

Exiting is only half of it

Every practice has the file that will not close. Two of the four documents arrive, then the client goes quiet. ICPAC's AML Directive is direct about how…

20 August 2026 · Regulator commentary

Dormancy is not deletion

Most Cyprus lawyers who wound down an administrative-services practice think of it as something they stopped doing. The Bar Association's standing…

20 August 2026 · Practice notes

Fuzzy matching is optional

Every screening desk has the same Tuesday afternoon: a queue of alerts, almost all of them somebody abroad who shares a surname with a designated person…

19 August 2026 · Country risk

UK AML

The UK's status on the four lists is rarely the problem — the stale date in the file is. Four lists carry the answer: FATF's call-for-action and…

19 August 2026 · Change log

ISIL/DA'ESH

3 added, 25 amended on the sanctions lists on 19 August 2026. The bulk landed in ISIL/Da'esh sanctions (UN-SCISIL, 21 entries). Top country by count: DZ…

18 August 2026 · Sanctions movements

1132 list changes in 21 days

The last 21 days on the sanctions lists, 28 July – 17 August 2026: 1132 changes — 325 additions, 132 removals and 675 amendments across the EU, OFAC, UK…

17 August 2026 · Weekly briefing

The week in AML

AMLA Final Report on draft ITSs under AMLAR Art. 15(3) — CySEC C796. This week's developments are dominated by the EU AML framework build-out. AMLA has…

16 August 2026 · Regulator commentary

UN lists bind on their own

Most compliance officers in Cyprus watch the EU list. ICPAC's Sanctions Directive is written on the assumption that you watch three. ICPAC issues the…

16 August 2026 · Regulator commentary

ICPAC can arrive unannounced

Most firms treat an ICPAC inspection as something they will get time to prepare for. Regulation 4.602 is drafted on the opposite assumption. ICPAC adopted…

16 August 2026 · Regulator commentary

The same customers, fewer CASPs

The firms leaving the market deserve more of your attention than the ones staying. CySEC issued Circular C790 on 7 July 2026, six days after the MiCA…

16 August 2026 · Regulator commentary

Three laws, one new unit

If your sanctions procedure still cites the 2016 implementation law, it cites a law that has been repealed. CySEC issued Circular C724 on 1 August 2025 to…

16 August 2026 · Regulator commentary

Two registers, fifteen days

The Cyprus Bar Association issued Circular 02/2026 on 7 January 2026, through its Supervision and Compliance Department, addressed to obliged entities. It…

16 August 2026 · Regulator commentary

Thirty days, not 31 March

The Cyprus Bar Association issued Circular 01/2026 on 7 January 2026, through its Supervision and Compliance Department, to all members and obliged…

16 August 2026 · Regulator commentary

One risk score, sixteen lists

AMLA is consulting on the rules that will decide how your supervisor rates your firm, and for a small Cyprus practice that rating will normally be…

16 August 2026 · Regulator commentary

Category three is the line

AMLA has harmonised the reasoning behind an enforcement decision rather than the price of one, and the provision that will decide most Cyprus files puts a…

15 August 2026 · Regulator commentary

One jurisdiction out of 149 is fully compliant

Six years after the FATF brought virtual-asset service providers inside the global AML framework, most of the world has still not finished implementing…

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Not legal advice. FIRMCY publishes this analysis for general informational purposes; verify against the primary sources before acting.