FATF President Suggests Tiered System for Suspicious Transaction Reports

Financial Action Task Force (FATF) President Giles Thomson has suggested that a tiered approach to suspicious transaction reports (STRs) could help financial intelligence units (FIUs) prioritize serious alerts.

Speaking during a Q&A at the International Anti-Financial Crime Summit in London, Thomson questioned whether reporting systems should distinguish lower-level submissions from higher-value intelligence.

“When the FATF standards were created many years ago, we were living in a bit of a different world, where FIUs weren’t drowning so much in STRs,” he said, quoted by AML Intelligence.

Thomson, who began his presidency on July 1, has previously identified the actionability of financial intelligence as a key focus. The published priorities for the UK’s 2026–2028 FATF presidency include helping countries and businesses focus on high-value reporting and make better use of information.

Suspicious transaction reporting is a core element of the FATF’s framework. Recommendation 20 calls for financial institutions to be legally required to promptly notify their FIU when they suspect, or have reasonable grounds to suspect, that funds represent criminal proceeds or relate to terrorist financing.

The suggestion for different STR tiers based on seriousness comes amid concerns about defensive filing, where institutions may submit an excess of reports to avoid penalties for failing to flag suspicious activity. Large volumes of low-value submissions can consume FIU resources and may complicate AML efforts.