Monaco’s financial-crime watchdog froze more than €87 million in suspect transactions, increased its inspections by half and imposed fines of up to €800,000 in 2025 – a year that saw the regulator markedly toughen its enforcement. Suspicious-activity reports also reached a record, as the authority pushed its scrutiny well beyond the banks and into property, luxury goods, yachting and corporate services.
The figures come from the annual report of the Autorité Monégasque de Sécurité Financière (AMSF), which describes 2025 as “a year of strong acceleration” in the Principality’s fight against financial crime. Across reporting, supervision and enforcement, it points to a regulator that is both bigger and more assertive than a year earlier.
The AMSF suspended 10 transactions during the year, together worth more than €87 million. This power allows the authority to temporarily stop an operation linked to a suspicious transaction report when the seriousness or urgency of the case warrants intervention.
All 10 cases were subsequently referred to the General Prosecutor’s Office. One of the suspensions followed a request from a foreign financial-intelligence unit.
Overall, the AMSF’s Financial Intelligence Unit sent 73 reports to prosecutors in 2025, representing a 59% increase compared with the previous year.
Suspicious transaction reports reach record level
The rise in referrals followed another record year for suspicious transaction reporting. The AMSF received 1,479 reports in 2025, up 9.5% from 2024 and more than double the 685 recorded in 2021.
Banks remained the largest source, accounting for 855 reports, or almost 58% of the total. However, reporting also continued to increase across other regulated sectors, indicating that anti-money laundering obligations are becoming more firmly established beyond traditional financial institutions.
Non-financial professions submitted 578 reports, an increase of 14%. Gaming establishments accounted for 235, followed by notaries with 97, real estate agents with 61 and accountants with 57.
Reports from company service providers increased by 71%, while submissions from portfolio management companies rose by 87%.
Inspections and follow-up action intensify
The authority also stepped up its direct supervision of regulated businesses, conducting 54 on-site inspections during the year – 50% more than in 2024.
It completed 54 follow-up procedures, compared with only nine the previous year, as it placed greater emphasis on whether businesses corrected weaknesses identified during inspections. Those weaknesses continued to involve customer due diligence, risk classifications, the verification of sources of wealth and funds, politically exposed persons and transaction monitoring.
Meanwhile, engagement with STRIX, the AMSF’s risk-assessment platform, improved significantly. The authority received 1,294 responses, with the participation rate rising from 84% to 96%.
But compliance with mandatory annual activity reporting was considerably weaker. The AMSF received 631 reports, representing only 59% of the businesses required to submit one.
The rate varied sharply between sectors. Banks recorded a 90% submission rate, compared with just 23% in the yachting industry and 20% among traders in high-value goods.
Hundreds of penalties issued
The AMSF issued 803 formal notices during 2025, mainly to businesses that had failed to submit internal-control procedures or complete the STRIX questionnaire. More than 80% subsequently corrected their position. However, the authority still imposed 166 simplified penalties totalling €384,500.
Seven more serious cases resulted in formal sanction decisions, including a fine of €800,000 issued to Landmark Management SAM and €500,000 against International Corporate Structuring SARL (ICS).
A bigger, busier regulator
The expansion was underpinned by 20 new recruits and a new Legal Department, which between March and December alone fielded nearly 500 queries from regulated businesses on Monaco’s anti-money-laundering rules, due-diligence duties and the treatment of politically exposed persons.
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Photo credit: Cassandra Tanti