The Financial Action Task Force and Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering have published their 2026 mutual evaluation of Canada, assessing the effectiveness and technical compliance of its anti-money laundering, counterterrorist financing and counterproliferation financing framework at the time of the November 2025 on-site visit. Canada has strengthened its illicit finance defenses, including beneficial ownership transparency, and demonstrates a mature understanding of its risks, strong interagency coordination and effective use of financial intelligence. However, it needs to improve risk-based supervision and prioritize complex professional and standalone money laundering cases in line with its risk profile. Supervisory gaps include limited entity-level risk assessments for many financial institutions and virtual asset service providers, as well as inspection frequency and intensity that do not always reflect risk. Coverage and enforcement for designated nonfinancial businesses and professions leave sectors including real estate and dealers in precious metals and stones vulnerable. Beneficial ownership information is generally accessible to authorities, but implementation varies across provinces and territories. Persistent delays also affect mutual legal assistance, asset recovery and access to financial intelligence in nonurgent cases, while legal and operational constraints limit confiscation in complex cases. Canada has received a three-year roadmap covering stronger risk-based supervision, further implementation of a pan-Canadian corporate beneficial ownership framework, greater focus on complex money laundering investigations and prosecutions, and expanded asset recovery. It has been placed in regular follow-up and will report to the Financial Action Task Force on its progress.

Original source