FINTRAC reports record intelligence output and $247M+ in penalties for 2025–26
Canada's financial intelligence unit, FINTRAC, says it produced 7,214 disclosure packages in 2025–26 and issued 35 notices of violation with more than $247 million in total penalties.
FINTRAC, Canada's financial intelligence unit and anti-money laundering supervisor, published its results by the numbers for 2025–26 on 22 October 2026. FINTRAC describes 2025–26 as a year of record financial intelligence production. It produced 7,214 disclosure packages, containing 3,007 unique disclosures and 1.68 million financial transactions disclosed to law enforcement. FINTRAC says 38% of disclosures were provided proactively to law enforcement and national security partners, and that it supported 348 major project-level investigations.
FINTRAC lists its priority areas with figures. For extortion it reports 122 disclosures, $1.6B in financial flows, 75,204 transactions and 336 subjects identified. For illegal fentanyl it reports 268 disclosures and 1,051 subjects identified. It says more than 31% of disclosures identified fraud as the predicate offence (the underlying crime that produced the money). It also received 2,508 voluntary information records, a 10% increase over the previous year.
On supervision, FINTRAC reports 4,874 assessment and monitoring activities, including 625 targeted examinations and 89 full-scope examinations. It says more than 55% of all assessment activities focused on money services businesses (MSBs), and that 82 MSB registrations were revoked, up from 12 the previous year.
FINTRAC issued 35 notices of violation, a 52% increase over the previous year, with more than $247 million in total penalties. Its table shows 23 notices and $25 million in 2024–25. FINTRAC also says it disclosed 31 cases of non-compliance to law enforcement, 28 of which involved money services businesses, and recalls that in October 2025 it imposed a $176 million penalty, the largest in its history, on Xeltox Enterprises Ltd.
Why it matters to AML professionals
Figures like these show where an FIU and supervisor is putting its effort, which helps AML professionals set their own priorities. A sharp rise in penalties and MSB revocations signals closer scrutiny of reporting quality and registration status. Reports filed by AML teams are the raw material for the disclosures counted here, so report quality has a direct effect on investigations.
Red flags in this case
- Customer funds moving through a money services business whose registration status cannot be confirmed
- Payments with patterns linked to extortion, such as sudden large transfers by a business owner to unknown parties
- Accounts receiving many small deposits from unrelated people and quickly moving the money on, a pattern common in fraud
- Cash-intensive activity inconsistent with the customer's stated business
If this landed in your queue
- Confirm that any money services business counterparty is registered with the relevant supervisor before processing its payments
- Check whether the alert matches a published national priority such as fraud, extortion or fentanyl, and say so in the report
- Write the suspicious transaction report so investigators can use it: who, what, when, where and why it is suspicious
- Escalate gaps in your own reporting process to compliance management before an examiner finds them
Key terms
- Disclosure package
- Financial intelligence an FIU sends to police or security agencies about suspected money laundering or terrorist financing.
- Voluntary information record
- Information that police or other partners send to the FIU on their own initiative to help it build intelligence.
- Notice of violation
- FINTRAC's formal notice that a business broke AML rules, usually with an administrative monetary penalty.
Interview angle
How does an FIU use the reports your team files?
Explain that reports are analysed and combined with other data, then disclosed to law enforcement, so clear and complete narratives directly support investigations.
Sources
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