Real estate and trade-based money laundering rank as top concerns for 2026

High-end money laundering via property or assets and trade-based money laundering (TBML) have been prominent financial crime risks for some time now. As they continue to grow in complexity, however, they remain among the biggest risks financial institutions have to mitigate. In our survey, 41% of respondents identified high-end asset laundering as their top concern, with that figure sitting at 38% for TBML. 

Critical vulnerabilities in the real estate sector continue to make it an attractive target for criminals attempting to introduce illicit funds into the legitimate financial system. Issues surrounding weak beneficial ownership checks, frequent involvement of shell companies, and relatively easily manipulated prices mean that property sales are often used to launder money. Even amid a broad trend of deregulation in the US, FinCEN has implemented and renewed Geographic Targeting Orders (GTOs) that require title insurers to identify the beneficial owners of shell companies involved in residential real estate transactions. 

Meanwhile, criminals continue to exploit global trade systems and employ increasingly sophisticated methods to evade detection. Over- and under-invoicing, as well as shipping, are common methods of manipulating trade documents and processes, enabling bad actors to exploit the complexities of international trade and obscure value transfers. In parallel, complex corporate structures involving shell companies and vague descriptions of commodities are used to obscure participants in transaction chains. 

Compliance teams are responding to these threats by leveraging advanced technologies to bolster their AML screening and monitoring procedures. AI-enhanced adverse media screening, where risks may be surfaced before they are reflected in official sources, and customer screening that uncovers complex ownership structures are two key examples. 

Authorized push payment (APP) fraud is an additional criminal typology firms are most concerned about, with 36% of our survey respondents naming it as their top financial crime priority for 2026. In the UK, this is likely due in part to regulatory pressures. Rules requiring payment service providers to reimburse APP fraud victims up to £85,000 have created a strong incentive for these firms to invest in compliance solutions that provide real-time visibility into risks and screen payments securely and at scale. 

Taken together, the persistence of complex schemes like asset laundering and TBML, combined with the immediate, high-volume threat of APP fraud, shows that financial crime is attacking institutions across multiple fronts. To effectively counter these diverse and evolving typologies, a fragmented, manual approach is no longer viable. The key to mitigating these top-ranking risks in 2026 lies in deploying integrated compliance systems that deliver real-time risk visibility and leverage advanced AI to penetrate the complexities of structures and detect risks at scale.