New FATF report urges use of Public-Private Partnerships to combat illicit finance

Paris, 8 July 2026 – A new report from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) highlights the urgent need for authorities and the private sector to work together to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing (ML/TF/PF), in an era of increased digitalisation, and given the speed and complexity of cross-border transactions.

Information Sharing to Combat Illicit Finance: Global Overview of Public and Private Sector Partnerships and Data Protection Arrangements examines how public-private partnerships (PPPs) and other information-sharing mechanisms can help jurisdictions and the private sector to detect, analyse and disrupt financial crime activity at speed and scale.

The report identifies at least 84 public-private partnerships globally, with 52 surveyed jurisdictions reporting at least one domestic PPP and 18 reporting more than one. It finds that PPPs stand out as permanent, effective instruments for combatting ML/TF/PF when supported by a robust legal basis, clear governance, and technological innovation.

To encourage adoption and strengthening of PPPs, the FATF sets out different models being used around the world, and highlights the need for stronger cooperation with financial institutions, virtual asset service providers, the non-financial sectors and non-traditional stakeholders, given the exponential rise of fraud globally.

The report finds that more than 75% of reporting jurisdictions are using PPPs to share strategic information such as typologies, red flags and risk trends while 55 – 66% of jurisdictions have PPPs for operational information sharing such as case intelligence, suspicious transaction report indicators and customer due diligence or Know Your Customer data reflecting different needs, context, stages and evolution of PPPs.

Key innovations being used to strengthen information sharing are set out in the report, including encrypted platforms, secure exchanges and the involvement of a broader range of stakeholders such as telecom operators and digital platforms.

Case studies in the report demonstrate the impact of enhanced cooperation and information sharing from better risk understanding to significant operational outcomes. For example, a transnational anti-scam alliance led by Singapore’s Project FRONTIER+ involving 13 jurisdictions led to more than 2 100 arrests, the freezing of over 36 000 bank accounts, and the seizure of approximately S$28.2 million.

In another case, under South Africa’s tactical operation group, banks analysed suspicious activity from clients that led to the dismantling of a pyramid scheme and the freezing of 60 bank accounts to the value of more than USD 450 000.

“Public-private partnerships are helping to achieve results that would not otherwise be possible with information on financial crime in fragmented siloes across public and private sectors. I encourage countries to use public-private partnerships to build the trust, collaboration, and high-speed channels for information sharing needed to counter increasingly sophisticated criminal methods. This is essential to effectively disrupt and prevent illicit finance, especially the fast growing threat from fraud. I encourage governments around the world to draw on the good practices in this report and to think innovatively on how we can take the fight to the criminals."

The report identifies tools and technologies that enable a balance to be struck between operational efficiency and compliance with data protection, privacy, and human rights obligations.

Countries need to establish common objectives and clear legal and regulatory expectations, including through senior level engagement and joint guidance between the AML/CFT and data protection and privacy authorities.