# FATF R.26 — Regulation and supervision of financial institutions - **Part of:** [[FATF Recommendations]] Countries must ensure financial institutions are adequately licensed or registered, regulated, and supervised for AML/CFT compliance, and must prevent criminals or their associates from owning, controlling, or managing an institution; shell banks may not be established or allowed to continue operating. Institutions subject to the Basel Core Principles receive AML/CFT supervision integrated with prudential supervision, including on a consolidated group basis. All other financial institutions, at minimum money or value transfer and currency-exchange providers, must be licensed or registered and subject to effective systems for monitoring compliance. ## Keyed AMLR articles _none_ ## Swiss counterparts - [[GwG Art. 14 - Affiliation to a self-regulatory organisation|GwG Art. 14]] — R.26 requires financial institutions to be licensed or registered and supervised, and criminals kept from controlling or managing them; GwG Art. 14 brings Art. 2 Abs. 3 intermediaries under supervision through compulsory SRO membership, conditional on the good reputation and proper conduct of the firm, its managers and qualified shareholders (Abs. 2). *(related)* - [[GwG Art. 26a - Domestic group companies|GwG Art. 26a]] — R.26 calls for consolidated group supervision for AML/CFT purposes; GwG Art. 26a lets FINMA have compliance by domestic group companies shown in the group's audit report. *(related)* ## Authoritative text > [!quote]- FATF Recommendation 26 — text of the Recommendation (FATF Recommendations, updated June 2026); interpretive note not reproduced > **26. Regulation and supervision of financial institutions** > Countries should ensure that financial institutions are subject to adequate regulation and supervision and are effectively implementing the FATF Recommendations. Competent authorities or financial supervisors should take the necessary legal or regulatory measures to prevent criminals or their associates from holding, or being the beneficial owner of, a significant or controlling interest, or holding a management function in, a financial institution. Countries should not approve the establishment, or continued operation, of shell banks. > For financial institutions subject to the Core Principles, the regulatory and supervisory measures that apply for prudential purposes, and which are also relevant to money laundering and terrorist financing, should apply in a similar manner for AML/CFT purposes. This should include applying consolidated group supervision for AML/CFT purposes. > Other financial institutions should be licensed or registered and adequately regulated, and subject to supervision or monitoring for AML/CFT purposes, having regard to the risk of money laundering or terrorist financing in that sector. At a minimum, where financial institutions provide a service of money or value transfer, or of money or currency changing, they should be licensed or registered, and subject to effective systems for monitoring and ensuring compliance with national AML/CFT requirements.