Ireland Launches First National AML Strategy With Crypto and Ownership Reforms

Ireland has launched its first national strategy for combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing, outlining reforms covering digital assets, company ownership, and financial intelligence.

The strategy establishes five priorities: improving national coordination; strengthening the identification and understanding of financial crime risks; developing the regulatory framework; building public- and private-sector capabilities; and enhancing international cooperation.

Planned reforms include tighter AML rules for digital assets and transfers to make it harder to move illicit funds anonymously. Ireland will also implement the European Union’s new AML legislative package and introduce additional disclosure requirements for limited partnerships and corporate vehicles considered higher risk.

The government plans to increase transparency around company ownership and modernize its financial intelligence capabilities. Intelligence sharing will also be strengthened between government departments, An Garda Síochána (the Irish police service), Revenue, FIU Ireland, the Criminal Assets Bureau, the Central Bank of Ireland, and financial institutions.

Other objectives include improving the detection of cyber-enabled fraud and sanctions evasion, strengthening supervision of financial institutions, and increasing oversight of sectors particularly vulnerable to money laundering, including gambling.

The strategy follows Ireland’s 2026 National Risk Assessment and its accompanying Priority Actions Implementation Plan. It will also support preparations for the country’s next Financial Action Task Force mutual evaluation of the effectiveness of its AML controls, with an on-site assessment provisionally scheduled for February 2028.

In an official announcement, Tánaiste (the deputy head of the Irish government) and Finance Minister Simon Harris called the strategy “the most significant strengthening of Ireland’s anti-money laundering framework in years.”