Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing requirements continue to evolve as regulators respond to new technologies, financial crime methods and emerging risks.
For regulated entities, remaining compliant requires more than understanding the general principles of AML and CFT. Firms must remain informed about new regulatory publications, supervisory findings, financial crime typologies and reporting expectations, and assess how these developments affect their internal policies, controls and procedures.
In this blog,
Evdokia Pitsillidou, Global Chief Risk & Compliance Officer and Partner at
SALVUS Funds, introduces the key themes covered in the online course “
Know all 2026 Anti-Money Laundering Regulatory Updates”, now available through the Institute for Professional Excellence platform.
Advance your AML compliance expertise by enrolling in the course and strengthening your understanding of the latest regulatory developments.
The Importance of Knowing All 2026 Anti-Money Laundering Regulatory Updates
Money laundering and terrorist financing risks do not remain static. Criminals continuously adapt their methods by taking advantage of digital financial services, new payment technologies, crypto-assets, artificial intelligence, complex corporate structures and cross-border transactions.
Regulated entities must therefore regularly assess whether their AML and CFT frameworks remain appropriate for the risks to which they are exposed.
Keeping up to date with regulatory developments helps firms:
- identify new and emerging financial crime risks;
- update their business-wide and customer risk assessments;
- strengthen customer due diligence and enhanced due diligence measures;
- improve transaction-monitoring rules and alert scenarios;
- recognise new suspicious activity indicators;
- submit complete and high-quality suspicious transaction and activity reports;
- provide relevant training to employees;
- demonstrate to CySEC that regulatory publications have been considered and implemented.
Regulatory updates should not simply be circulated internally. The AML Compliance Officer and relevant control functions should assess their impact, document the actions required and monitor the implementation of any necessary enhancements.
Failure to respond appropriately to updated regulatory expectations may expose a firm to compliance weaknesses, ineffective monitoring, poor-quality regulatory reporting and increased supervisory scrutiny.
2026 Readiness Actions to #StayAhead
To stay ahead in 2026, regulated entities should move beyond documented policies and demonstrate that their AML/CFT controls operate effectively in practice.
Key readiness actions include strengthening customer identification and beneficial ownership verification, validating digital onboarding tools, updating transaction-monitoring scenarios, maintaining clear suspicious activity escalation procedures, evidencing Board and control-function oversight, using reliable and auditable compliance technology, and keeping complete records of risk classifications, due diligence decisions, investigations and reporting outcomes.
Early preparation will help firms identify gaps, enhance governance and operational resilience, and respond more effectively to increasingly harmonised and data-driven EU supervision
What is the "Know All 2026 Anti-Money Laundering Regulatory Updates" course and what does it include?Developed and delivered by
Evdokia Pitsillidou, Global Chief Risk & Compliance Officer and Partner at
SALVUS Funds, this course is designed to help professionals understand recent AML and CFT developments and translate regulatory publications into practical compliance actions
Understanding regulatory updates is an essential part of maintaining an effective AML and CFT framework.
The circulars covered by this course provide practical intelligence on suspicious activity reporting, technology-enabled fraud, money mules, crypto-assets, stablecoins, unhosted wallets and wider financial-sector vulnerabilities.
By reviewing these developments and considering their impact on internal controls, regulated entities can improve their risk assessments, strengthen transaction monitoring, enhance regulatory reporting and remain better prepared for supervisory reviews.
The Know All 2026 Anti-Money Laundering Regulatory Updates course provides professionals with the knowledge required to understand these developments and apply them within their organisations.
The syllabus of the course is as follows:
- Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing
- Stages of Money Laundering - Differences between ML and TF
- MONEYVAL Assessment and follow-up reports
- Areas for Improvement
- Follow-up Report Dec 2023
- Partially Compliant Recommendations
- 4th Enhanced Follow-up report
- Why MONEYVAL ratings matter
- Cyprus National Risk Assessments of 2018 & 2021
- MOKAS and its powers
- NRA and ML threats
- Banking Sector
- Key Findings – Supervisory Authorities, Banking, Securities and ASP sector
- The AML Regulatory Framework
- 4AMLD and 5AMLD
- AMLA
- EU Directives - National Laws
- CySEC Circulars C733 & C781
- MOKAS Revised STR Guidelines
- Strategic Reports
- Annual Report 2025
- CySEC Circulars C723 & C762
- Circular C723 – EBA Opinion on ML/TF risks
- The EBA
- Cross-sectoral risks
- AML/CFT trends and weaknesses
- Stablecoins
- Red flags and Typologies
- Good practices - CySEC Circulars C685, C697, C724 & C737
- Circular C685 – Guidance on Sanctions Screening Systems
- Circular C697 – EU Sanctions Helpdesk
- Circular C724 – New Legal Framework for Sanctions
- Circular C737 – 19th Package of Russian Sanctions
- 2026 Readiness Actions to #StayAhead
- Why #StayAhead Matters
- Readiness Actions
- How SALVUS Can Help
Upon successful completion, participants receive a certificate awarding 5 CPD hours, recognised by CySEC, the Central Bank of Cyprus, and other professional supervisory bodies. The course contributes towards the annual CPD requirements of CySEC Advanced and Basic Certification holders, as well as professionals registered with ICPAC and the Cyprus Bar Association. 
