Swedish Watchdog Keeps Banks, Cross-Border Payments & Crypto in Its Financial Crime Crosshairs

Key Takeaways

• FI Keeps Focus on Familiar High-Risk Sectors: Sweden's financial regulator identified banks, international payment providers and crypto-asset businesses as the sectors most vulnerable to money laundering, terrorist financing and sanctions evasion in 2026.
• Organized Crime Driving Higher Risk Levels: FI pointed to the growing threat from organized crime as the primary reason the overall money laundering and terrorist financing risk facing the financial sector is higher than it was five years ago.
• Sanctions Evasion Remains a Major Concern: The regulator warned that financial institutions continue to face elevated risks related to the circumvention of international sanctions, making sanctions compliance a key supervisory priority.
• Digital Services Create New Criminal Opportunities: FI said digitalization, international payment services and crypto-assets have expanded the tools available to criminals, increasing the need for robust financial crime controls.
• Financial Institutions Expected to Strengthen Defenses: The report serves as guidance for firms to assess their own exposure to financial crime risks and reinforce anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and sanctions compliance measures.

Deep Dive

When Sweden's financial regulator published its latest assessment of money laundering, terrorist financing and sanctions risks on Thursday, the sectors drawing the most scrutiny were largely the same ones that appeared in previous editions, including banks, international payment services and crypto-assets.

For Finansinspektionen (FI), that is not evidence that the problem has been solved. It is evidence that the problem has endured. The regulator's 2026 report on prioritized risks warns that these parts of the financial system remain particularly vulnerable to exploitation by criminals seeking to move illicit funds, finance terrorism or circumvent international sanctions. FI said the risks identified in earlier assessments continue to apply, despite years of regulatory attention and investment in compliance controls.

Banks remain at the center of those concerns. So do companies facilitating international payments and firms involved in crypto-asset trading, areas where money can move quickly across borders and where complex transaction chains can make illicit activity harder to detect.

The report arrives as Sweden's broader assessment of financial crime risk is moving in the wrong direction. According to the national risk assessment published this month, the overall threat of money laundering and terrorist financing within the financial sector is now considered higher than it was five years ago. FI attributes much of that increase to the growing threat posed by organized crime.

"The financial sector is particularly vulnerable to being exploited by criminals," said Halszka Onoszko, head of FI's Department of Anti-Money Laundering Supervision. She said firms must continue working to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing and attempts to evade sanctions.

The regulator's concerns extend beyond the institutions that typically dominate anti-money laundering discussions. FI also highlighted the role of companies used as tools for criminal activity and what it describes as internal enablers within the financial sector, which are individuals whose actions, whether deliberate or negligent, can help illicit activity pass through legitimate institutions.

There is also little indication that sanctions-related risks are fading from the supervisory agenda. FI said financial firms continue to face significant challenges in identifying and preventing attempts to circumvent international sanctions, a concern that has become increasingly prominent across Europe since Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent expansion of sanctions regimes.

One theme runs through much of the report: technology is changing the methods, but not the objective. Digital financial services have made payments faster, broadened access to financial products and created entirely new markets. They have also given criminal networks new channels through which to move money and disguise activity.

"Digitalization and innovation have created many opportunities but have also given criminals new tools to launder money and commit other crimes," Onoszko said.

That observation has become familiar across financial regulation. What stands out in FI's report is the absence of any suggestion that these risks are temporary growing pains associated with new technology. The regulator is instead treating them as enduring features of the financial landscape.

For firms operating in payments, banking and crypto-assets, the message is that regulators increasingly view financial crime controls not as a compliance exercise layered onto the business, but as a core part of operating safely in markets where organized crime has become more sophisticated, more digital and harder to detect.

The sectors attracting FI's attention in 2026 are largely the same sectors that attracted it in previous years. The regulator's conclusion is that the risks have not gone away. If anything, they have become more deeply embedded.

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