The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has published its 2025 Comprehensive Update on Terrorist Financing Risks, offering a detailed overview of how terrorist organisations continue to raise, move, and use funds through increasingly sophisticated and hybrid methods. These include the misuse of formal financial channels, informal value transfer systems such as hawala, virtual assets, digital platforms (including social media and crowdfunding features), and front or shell entities. The report highlights persistent challenges in the effective detection, investigation, and prosecution of terrorist financing across many jurisdictions, with significant implications for both the public and private sectors.

To support countries in responding to these challenges, the report outlines key recommendations aimed at strengthening the Global Network efforts in understanding and addressing terrorist financing. These include enhancing international cooperation, fostering the development of targeted public-private partnerships, and reinforcing risk-based supervision. Importantly, the report also introduces a set of practical risk indicators to assist competent authorities, private sector entities, and other stakeholders in detecting and disrupting TF activity. These indicators include patterns in payments, travel activity, and social media engagement.

Regulated entities are strongly encouraged to review the report and assess its implications for their internal controls, risk assessments, and reporting mechanisms, in order to stay ahead of evolving terrorist financing threats.

The full report is available here