UN Security Council, 20 August 2025
Mr. President, thank you for the invitation, I am honoured to address the Security Council on behalf of the Financial Action Task Force to share our efforts to combat terrorist financing, which includes the financing of Daesh and its affiliates. I would like to thank Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, Ms. Natalia Gherman and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, Mr. Vladimir Voronkov for their insightful briefing, but mostly for the collaboration that we have on a regular basis.
The FATF was originally created in 1989 to tackle money laundering. It was mobilised within just one month of the attacks of 9/11 to also include in its mandate combating terrorist financing.
Since then, the FATF develops an understanding of risks, and, through a consensus based rule, we set global standards centred around effectiveness. We are incentivising members of the Global Network to bolster their defences through rigorous peer reviews. The FATF also partners with the private sector and non-profit organisations to ensure both an effective and proportional implementation of the measures.
The FATF and the regional bodies galvanise over 200 jurisdictions in strengthening their defences to shield against terrorists. The importance of the FATF’s role in countering terrorism financing has been acknowledged in a number of Security Council Resolutions and complements the work of the United Nations.
Since 2001, the terrorist financing threat has changed dramatically but the importance of addressing this threat is still as relevant. By turning off the money tap, we can cut off the blood supply of terrorism.
The FATF regularly tracks terrorist financing risks, including through regular analysis of ISIL and Al Qaeda financing.
In June of this year, we completed a Comprehensive Update of Terrorist Financing Risks. This endeavour would not have been possible without the professional collaboration of the UN officials, who, through the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate collaborated as co-leads in this project – and also France served as co-lead of this work. This was made possible not only through their leadership but also through the insights we received from over 80 jurisdictions, that included 800 inputs from the private sector institutions and academia representatives.
This report examines different types of financing of terrorist groups and individuals, and of course, includes detailed information on the financing of Daesh and affiliates. What we see is that over the past decades, terrorists have demonstrated a persistent ability to exploit the international financial system. And these methods they employ vary widely, but we see the trend that underscores both their adaptability and determination.
Context really matters. Depending on contextual circumstances, we see that the type of terrorist organisations, individuals and those who finance terrorism have varying financial needs and consequently adapt their financial management strategies.
Despite improvements in transparency and risk management practices of the private sector, we see that terrorists continue to use formal financial systems, including deposit accounts, wire transfers, and prepaid cards.
The major evolution is due to digital transformation. Digital platforms — such as social media, messaging applications, and crowdfunding systems—are increasingly being abused for terrorist financing, particularly when they offer integrated payment systems that bypass due diligence measures.
We see an increasing level of abuse of virtual assets, with some groups systematically leveraging them and employing obfuscation techniques and shifting towards alternatives promoted as more private and secure. In particular, our report highlights that in 2024 ISIL-K has increasingly used virtual assets for organisational transfers and to collect donations internationally. To address this, the updated FATF Standards support countries and the private sector to monitor the development of virtual assets and provide tools to identify potential underlying terrorist activities.
In parallel, the threat posed by lone individuals radicalized by ISIL ideology — often younger in age — is rising, with such actors relying on microfinancing strategies drawn from both licit sources, petty criminal activity, as well as technology-enabled methods, including gambling online, which we call gaming, and social media features.
While traditional financing channels and schemes continue to be used, there is a marked increase in the interlink of diverse methods and the use of digital technologies. This adds to the complexity of the shields we have to put in place to combat terrorist financing.
We also see an increased decentralisation, with regional financial hubs and self-financed cells playing a larger role, adapting to local contexts, and employing a broader range of funding sources, from criminal activities (as we see with ISIL's branches in Africa) to investments in business activities. These financing models are more resilient and less vulnerable to traditional disruption efforts.
This is of course a complex environment, highlighting the importance of the complementarity of the FATF and UN mandates in combatting terrorist financing.
The FATF has outlined a number of recommendations to address the existing and emerging terrorist financing risks. These recommendations also build upon requirements in Security Council resolutions and the guidance of the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee, including the Algeria Guiding Principles.
Firstly, this includes making multilateral designation of terrorist organisations under Security Council sanctions regimes a key priority, alongside regional and national mechanisms established pursuant to UNSCR 1373.
Secondly, strengthening implementation of the global CFT standards. The FATF is actively working to support countries to increase their investigative and prosecuting abilities after identifying that less than a third of countries are investigating and prosecuting terror financing adequately. There is also an area of opportunity in closing the loopholes - particularly in areas such as virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and transparency of legal persons. This is fundamental to choke the flow of funds to terrorism.
Third, expanding outreach to a broader range of stakeholders. This has to include non-traditional partners such as social media and messaging platforms. It is critical to have a conversation with them and have them at the table to better understand and address these emerging risks. The private sector is often the first line of defence and developing targeted public-private partnerships is critical.
Lastly, and one of the priorities of the Mexican presidency of the FATF, is that both governments and the private sector need to implement an adequate risk-based approach and proportional implementation of the Standards. Risk based approach means, succinctly, defining the risk and apply the proportionate measures according to that risk. A general requirement for everything may not be the best approach to combat terrorist financing. The FATF has reiterated the importance of ensuring that the measures to combat terrorist financing do not impede activities conducted in accordance with international law, including humanitarian aid.
To meet the terrorist financing challenges of today, we must recognise that our work is not yet done. The FATF takes on this challenge and will continue to work with partners and the members of the FATF Global Network to combat all manner of terrorist threats.
I want to conclude by thanking our valued colleagues at the UN bodies for their strong partnership, as well as to acknowledge the hard work of the membership of the FATF and the Global Network that as I mentioned has over 200 jurisdictions. I also want to reiterate the Financial Action Task Force’s continued commitment to work with the Security Council, all member states, and all relevant UN bodies to address global risks of terrorist financing. We must stand together in this fight. Because terrorists just need one time to succeed, while we need to succeed every time to prevent it.
I look forward to hearing your views today on how we, working together, collectively, resolutely, can sharpen our impact in combatting terrorist financing. The FATF stands ready to achieve this goal.
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