The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has presented its 2024 annual report. The number of suspicious activity reports has fallen significantly, while the quality of reports and output for law enforcement purposes has increased.
What is the FIU, and what does the annual report offer? The FIU is the German central office for financial transaction investigations at customs. It receives suspicious activity reports in accordance with Section 43 of the GwG, analyses them in a risk-oriented manner and forwards analysis reports to law enforcement and security authorities. The annual report compiles figures, trends and typologies for a given year and provides guidance for risk analysis, monitoring and reporting practices for obligated parties.
What stands out?
- The FIU Annual Report 2024 shows a significant decline in the number of suspicious activity reports to 265,708. In 2023, there were 322,590 reports.
- Around 96% of the reports came from the financial sector (253,847), while the non-financial sector recorded 10,464 reports (~3.9%; a slight increase compared to 2023).
- Crypto-related matters accounted for 8,711 reports (~3.3% of the total); the focus was on transfers to trading platforms, risk addresses and atypical usage patterns, among other things.
- Output to law enforcement has increased: 87,731 analysis reports (2023: 81,550; approx. +8%).
- The report emphasises a stronger risk orientation, clearer delineation of non-reportable issues and improved cooperation with law enforcement agencies.
- According to the report, there is a higher quality of reporting – in particular, complete data sets and reliable identifiers (e.g. reference numbers, transaction IDs).
Conclusion: The figures for 2024 show consolidation: fewer but more targeted suspicious activity reports, more analysis output from the FIU and higher requirements for data and justification quality. For obligated entities, this means consistently focusing risk analyses and monitoring on key areas such as crypto typologies, structuring and platform risks, and streamlining reporting processes for immediacy and completeness.
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