We have published our Q1 2025 suspicious activity report (SAR) statistics, which aims to provide submitters with insight, trends, feedback, and scenarios based on the SARs we received. 📊The report includes a breakdown of predicate criminality, the number of SARs by reporting sector, consent requests and grounds for disclosure and a new Terrorist Financing (TF) typology for the Non Profit Organization (NPO)sector, and looks at who is funding Hamas.
Key statistics at a glance:
- Overall, the FIU received 511 SARs in Q1 of 2025, representing nearly a 10% increase compared to Q1 in 2024 and a 6% increase compared to Q4 2024. SAR numbers for the first three months of 2025 have increased in each respective month compared to 2024.
- The banking sector continues to be the largest reporting sector, accounting for 65.5% of all SARs submitted in Q1 2025. It is followed by the Trust and Corporate Service Provider (TCSP) sector (16.8%) and then the Fund Services Business (FSB) sector (3.9%).
- 649 Consent Requests were received in Q1 2025, an increase of 44.9% on the same period last year and an increase of 5.4% on Q4 2024.
- Except for 'Other - undetermined', the top 3 predicate criminalities identified when submitting a SAR were:
- 1. Fraud (37.6%)2.
- Tax Crimes relating to direct and indirect taxes (8.3%)3.
- Corruption (7.2)
- This quarter's reporting revealed 23 Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) connections.
- As always, high-quality SARs with detailed and relevant data (provided in the correct format) are both a legal requirement and vital in the collective fight against financial crime. This quarter, 94.1% of SARs submissions were graded as being of a good standard of disclosure, with only 2 SARs not meeting the required standard of disclosure.
SAR submissions provide an essential trigger for the FIU to assess further, analyse and develop information and suspicion to provide clearer insight and intelligence on a range of Threat Actors and their financial crime activities, Illicit Finance trends, emerging threats and ongoing risk understanding.