FIU publishes annual report 2023

The FIU Annual Report 2023 highlights key developments in the area of suspicious activity reporting for money laundering and terrorist financing in Germany. The decrease in the total number of suspicious activity reports is particularly noteworthy for 2023. An increase in reports from the non-financial sector can also be observed. Increased international cooperation is also being promoted between the FIUs, as well as in international bodies such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Egmont Group.

Suspicious activity reports: Financial and non-financial sector in comparison

In 2023, the FIU received 322,590 SARs, which corresponds to a decrease of around 4.3 % compared to 2022. This is the first decline in over ten years. However, the FIU still received an average of 1,290 SARs every working day.

Overall, the FIU considers the decline in the number of suspicious activity reports to be positive, as fewer non-relevant reports were submitted by the obliged entities.

fiu annual report 2600x1462 1 - FIU publishes annual report 2023 - Regpit

Terrorist financing and sanctions: Significant increase in relevant suspicious activity reports

Financial sectorIn the financial sector, the number of suspicious activity reports has decreased overall. Suspicious activity reports from financial services institutions are particularly noteworthy. The number of SARs for this sector has more than doubled compared to the previous year. On closer inspection, however, this can be attributed to one institution that made extensive reports in connection with the unauthorised use of customer accounts.
Non-financial sectorIn contrast to the financial sector, the non-financial sector recorded an increase in notifications of around 2.75 %. Professional groups such as lawyers, goods traders, but also notaries, auditors and estate agents were particularly active in the reporting obligation. The increase can probably be attributed to increased awareness of the reporting obligation.

There was a significant increase in suspicious activity reports with a potential link to terrorist financing and sanctions violations, which totalled around 5,500 in the 2023 reporting year. This development is primarily due to the increased sanctions regulations and their implementation in connection with the current geopolitical events.

Emergency measures and financial guarantees

In 2023, 60 immediate asset protection measures were taken with a total value of around 310 million euros. In addition, the number of operational analysis reports due to detected indications of money laundering, terrorist financing or related predicate offences increased by 116 % to a total of 82,000. Based on suspicious activity reports, this information is forwarded to the relevant authorities. These are mainly public prosecutors' offices and state criminal investigation offices.

National and international requests and spontaneous information

The cross-border exchange of information played an important role in 2023. A total of 1,064 requests were submitted to the FIU by foreign authorities and 1,604 requests were forwarded to other countries. In addition, the FIU received almost 1,800 spontaneous information requests from abroad, while Germany forwarded around 26,800 spontaneous information requests to international partners. With the so-called spontaneous information, the FIU informs potentially involved partner authorities about suspicious activity reports received with corresponding foreign relevance.

In the FIU's current annual report, you will also find a number of special cases (e.g. investment fraud, financial analysis in connection with organised crime) and other analyses. You can download the FIU's 2023 annual report here: FIU Annual Report 2023