The UKFIU’s SARs Annual Report 2026 highlights another record year for the SARs regime and demonstrates the growing value of SARs in identifying, disrupting and recovering criminal assets.
Key points of interest for the regulated sector include:
- SARs volumes continue to rise, with 896,414 SARs submitted during 2025-26, an increase of 3% on the previous year. Banking and financial services remain the largest reporting sectors.
- The SARs regime contributed to a record £422.3 million in criminal assets being denied through Defence Against Money Laundering (DAML) requests, with more than £1 billion denied over the last three years.
- Changes introduced in July 2025, including raising the DAML reporting threshold from £1,000 to £3,000, resulted in a 23% reduction in DAML submissions while increasing the proportion of DAMLs leading to law enforcement action and asset denial.
- The UKFIU continued to focus on improving SAR quality through extensive engagement with reporters, supervisors and regulators, including SARs best practice workshops, feedback sessions and sector-specific working groups.
- Strategic analysis undertaken by the UKFIU during the year focused on a range of emerging threats and typologies, including cash-based money laundering, professional enablers, organised immigration crime, child sexual abuse-related financial activity, informal value transfer systems, cryptocurrency, politically exposed persons (PEPs), and Chinese underground banking networks.
What does this mean for law firms?
The report reinforces the expectation that law firms submit timely, detailed and intelligence-led SARs, particularly where they identify potential money laundering, terrorist financing or other serious criminal activity. The UKFIU continues to place significant emphasis on SAR quality over volume, with high-quality reporting directly supporting asset recovery and wider law enforcement outcomes.
