Cooperation as the foundation of a secure financial system: FIU Latvia releases its 2025 Annual Report

“In 2025, the FIU continued its engagement across several key areas. In line with our mission – to safeguard the security of our country and its financial system, we continued to develop financial intelligence, ensure the effective implementation of sanctions, and enhance cooperation with national and international partners. At the same time, we continued our work as part of the 6th round MONEYVAL evaluation that had already started in 2024.

Collaboration – and most importantly the quality of that collaboration – was the defining factor behind the results we achieved across all areas of our work in 2025,” emphasizes the Head of the FIU Latvia Toms Platacis.

Positive international assessment strengthens Latvia’s reputation

Last year, Latvia’s 6th-round evaluation report was adopted at the FATF/MONEYVAL plenary meeting. The report highlights that Latvia achieved high or substantial levels of effectiveness in all Immediate Outcomes (IOs), except one. The work carried out under the leadership of the FIU Latvia demonstrated the effectiveness of Latvia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist and counter-proliferation financing (AML/CFT/CPF) system and its compliance with international standards, significantly strengthening the country’s international reputation.

As a result of these efforts, on 19 February 2026, MONEYVAL published its report on the results of Latvia’s mutual evaluation. Read more: https://www.fid.gov.lv/en/news/latvias-amlcft-system-internationally-recognised-as-overall-effective

Strengthened financial intelligence and analytical capacity

In 2025, the FIU continued to strengthen its financial intelligence capabilities, focusing on the effective identification and prevention of financial crime.

The FIU prepared and disseminated 612 analytical materials to law enforcement authorities (LEAs), supervisory and control authorities, and other institutions, and also produced 10 strategic and 12 tactical analytical studies. Read more: https://fid.gov.lv/en/roles-and-responsibilities/strategic-analysis-and-guidelines

FIU received more than 5,500 suspicious transaction reports and nearly 100,000 threshold declarations. Given the structure of criminal offences reflected in suspicious transaction reports and requests from LEAs, the FIU Latvia’s financial intelligence activities in 2025 – and the analytical reports subsequently provided to competent authorities – were primarily related to fraud and cybercrime, sanctions violations, tax evasion, and subsequent and stand-alone money laundering.

Our innovative OpCEN cooperation platform and the latest “Black-Box” solution also significantly assisted in achieving the high standard operational results.

OpCEN is an FIU’s initiative established to ensure close operational cooperation between the FIU and LEAs in the investigation of complex financial crime, continued to play a significant role in strengthening the effectiveness of financial intelligence. In 2025 OpCEN was joined for the first time also by our close cooperation partners from the private sector – financial institutions.

In 2024, the FIU data finder “Black-Box” was created – a technical solution that provides LEAs with a possibility of matching data at LEA disposal with the data available in the FIU database on a hit/no-hit basis.

Strengthened sanctions implementation and contribution to international security

2025 marked the first full calendar year since the FIU Latvia began performing the function of the competent authority for the sanctions implementation. Last year, the FIU Latvia worked purposefully to ensure effective and consistent implementation of sanctions, recognising that sanctions are an essential tool not only for strengthening Latvia’s national, but also regional and EU security.

In order to ensure effective implementation of sanctions in Latvia, the FIU has taken a series of targeted measures based on providing the public with clear and practical information on the implementation of sanctions, as well as close cooperation and coordination with national and international partners.

By the end of 2025, the FIU Latvia sanctions website contained information on 156 sanctioned persons and entities with frozen assets in Latvia, including funds amounting to EUR 153 million. Meanwhile, the number of reports concerning potential sanctions violations increased by approximately 80% compared to the previous year.

The FIU’s analytical work also contributed to strengthening sanctions against Russia, including the identification of vessels associated with the so-called “shadow fleet.” Nearly 10% of the vessels added to the EU sanctions list in 2025 were identified by FIU Latvia.

Cooperation as the key driver of effectiveness

The FIU’s functions cannot be carried out without effective cooperation with LEAs, including national security agencies and the Prosecutor Office, as well as obliged entities and supervisory and control institutions. To promote such cooperation, the FIU Latvia coordinates interaction among the relevant institutions and obliged entities by convening meetings of the “cooperation coordination group’’ (CCG). This CCG serves as both a public-private and public-public cooperation platform.

During the year, 296 CCG meetings were held, involving 260 law enforcement officers and prosecutors. In 2025, the FIU Latvia received 276 requests from LEAs, national security agencies, and the Prosecutor Office.

The FIU Latvia’s operational results were built upon extensive cooperation with partners in Latvia and abroad. In 2025, operational cooperation was conducted with financial intelligence units from 65 countries.

At the EU level, in 2025, the launch of the newly established Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) was an important step in the fight against financial crime. Latvia is represented among AMLA’s first appointed experts by a specialist from the FIU, underscoring the country's contribution to the authority’s work.

Participation in the work of AMLA provides an opportunity to represent Latvia’s experience in the field of AML/CFT/CPF, as well as to contribute to the formation and development of a common European financial security system.

The full 2025 Annual Report is available on the FIU Latvia website: https://fid.gov.lv/en/about-us/annual-report

The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia is an independent authority responsible for preventing money laundering and terrorist financing, implementing sanctions, protecting the Latvian financial system from misuse, and cooperating with international partners.