The Financial Monitoring Service detected 62.5 billion UAH in suspicious transactions last year

The State Financial Monitoring Service reviewed 1.7 million reports on financial transactions, marking a 23% increase over the year. Banks submitted 99% of these reports, while the remaining ones came from non-banking institutions such as credit unions, insurance companies, and pawnshops.

Year by year, the share of reports on suspicious transactions has grown—from 5% in 2021 to 18% last year. However, the majority still concern threshold transactions—82%, or 1.44 million.

Over 1,000 case files were forwarded to the relevant authorities after review, with a total transaction value of ₴62.59 billion.

Since the full-scale war, the number of cases sent to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has increased 3.3 times (11% or 118 cases). Meanwhile, cases sent to the Tax Service have dropped 2.5 times to just 95.

The Office of the Prosecutor General received the fewest cases — 7% (71 cases). Only one case was forwarded to intelligence agencies.

Context

The State Financial Monitoring Service (SFMS) investigates two types of financial transactions: threshold and suspicious.

Threshold transactions — these involve amounts of 400,000 UAH or more and meet at least one of the following risk factors: signs of separatism or terrorism, risk of invoice fraud in foreign trade, remote money laundering for terrorism, large cash circulation, improper detection of suspicious activities by politically exposed persons.

Suspicious transactions — these are flagged regardless of amount if a bank detects unusual activity. This can be based on a customer’s behavior, inconsistencies in provided information, or other risk factors.