Page contents Page contents Financial investigations are a crucial tool to detect money laundering, terrorist financing and other serious crimes. They can provide new leads to investigators to uncover criminal activities and map out entire criminal networks, including their transnational ramifications, and valuable evidence to prosecute suspected criminals and to identify and confiscate criminal assets. Financial investigations are enquiries into the financial affairs related to a criminal activity, with a view to identify, analyse and interpret the financial information relevant for criminal proceedings. Given the increasing risk of penetration of the licit economy by serious and organised crime, financial investigations are an essential tool of a modern and effective response to criminal threats including terrorist financing. This is why the 2024 Directive on asset recovery and confiscation requires the systematic launch of financial investigations. Enhancing financial investigation capacities ProtectEU stresses the need to follow the money in order to fight against organised crime and terrorism. This includes promoting a culture of early financial investigations in all EU countries and building investigators’ capacity to tackle the financial dimension of organised crime. This approach is crucial to eliminate profits generated by organised crime and prevent infiltration into the legal economy and society.EU countries have recognised the importance of the “follow the money approach” to tackle financial aspects of organised crime and to identify new leads when investigating organised crime in the 2020 Council conclusions on enhancing financial investigations to fight serious and organised crime. The Council Conclusions, which build on the 2016 Council Conclusion and Action Plan on financial investigations, called on EU countries to ensure that financial investigations are part of all kinds of criminal investigations regarding organised crime. This was reflected in the 2024 Directive on asset recovery and confiscation, which makes financial investigations a systematic requirement. Financial investigations are also crucial to fight terrorism and its financing. Following the money trail enables investigators to identify previously unknown associates in counter-terrorism cases. European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats - EMPACT Financial investigations are a crucial component of EMPACT (European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threat), by making financial investigations a common goal for all other priorities (combatting drug trafficking, fight against trafficking in human beings). Anti-Money Laundering Operational Network The European Commission provides financial support to the Anti-Money Laundering Operational Network (AMON), a global network of anti-money laundering investigators, launched in 2012. The network facilitates the exchange of knowledge among law enforcement anti-money laundering units and supports swift operational cooperation in money laundering investigations. AMON’s 45-strong membership includes EU Member States and key international partners, committed to fight crimes such as money laundering. Europol Europol has stepped up its efforts to combat highly sophisticated cases of money laundering, scams and frauds that target individuals, companies and the public sector with the establishment of the European Financial and Economic Crime Centre (EFECC) in 2020 Centre provides operational support to Member States in ongoing cases in the areas of tax crime, fraud, corruption, money laundering, asset recovery, euro counterfeiting and intellectual property crime. Moreover, Europol has a dedicated public-private partnerships to foster financial investigations, the Europol Financial Investigations Public-Private Partnership. CEPOL European Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL) provides regular training to law enforcement officers to enhance the understanding of financial investigators of money laundering schemes and to enhance their competencies on transnational financial investigation techniques. Financial investigations in serious crime cases The benefits of financial investigations in assisting the criminal investigation against all serious and organised criminals contribute to: identifying motives, associations and links to people and places; identifying the use of other services such as phones, transport and amenities relevant to the case; localising or identifying suspects, witnesses or victims; providing information on a suspect’s movements; mapping out criminal networks; tracing assets in confiscation and asset recovery.In many cases, financial investigations are necessary to develop evidence against sophisticated, high-level criminals with a view to dismantling transnational and organised crime networks. Financial investigations can also contribute to a jurisdiction’s National Risk Assessment as it provides knowledge on crime patterns. However, financial investigations are not used to their full potential, partly due to the insufficient capacity in law enforcement to carry out these complex and burdensome enquiries. Directive on asset recovery and confiscation, adopted in April 2024, introduced the obligation for EU Member to systematically conduct financial investigations in organised crime investigations. For more details on asset recovery and confiscation, check the website.Public-private partnerships can also play an important role in financial investigations. In 2025 Europol’s Financial Intelligence Public-Private Partnership published a Practical Guide for Operational Cooperation between Investigative Authorities and Financial Institutions.
