Peru's Superintendency of Banking, Insurance and Private Pension Funds warns environmental-crime money laundering is increasing citing USD 22.8 billion in suspicious reports linked to illegal mining

Peru's Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), part of the Superintendency of Banking, Insurance and Private Pension Funds (SBS), published an alert warning that money laundering linked to environmental crimes, including illegal mining, illegal logging, and trafficking in wildlife, is increasing. It highlighted that identifying the illicit origin of related proceeds is often difficult because the underlying products are typically exported through legal channels. Over the past 10 years, the UIF received more than 5,700 suspicious transaction reports (ROS) linked to illegal mining totalling USD 22.8 billion, ranking third by number of reports and second by value. Between January 2015 and September 2025, it received 63 ROS related to illegal logging totalling USD 136 million, and 31 ROS linked to illegal trafficking of wild flora and fauna for almost USD 5 million. The UIF noted it develops typologies to help detect these schemes, including comparing export values with incoming transfers from abroad, checking alignment between export consignees and transfer originators, and analysing the economic profile of exporting firms; it also flagged excessive cash use to purchase real estate and vehicles via nominees as a warning sign and called on obliged entities to strengthen controls and report such transactions promptly.