The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) is Canada’s national Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the primary supervisor for anti-money laundering (AML) and anti-terrorist financing (ATF) compliance. Its mandate is to ensure that businesses subject to Canada’s Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA) meet their reporting and compliance obligations, while also generating actionable financial intelligence for law enforcement and national security agencies.

Established in 2000, FINTRAC plays a dual role: regulator and intelligence hub. It monitors and enforces compliance among reporting entities, and analyses the data it receives to uncover illicit financial activity, issuing disclosures to appropriate authorities when it identifies evidence of money laundering or terrorist financing.

Legal Basis & Mandate

FINTRAC’s mandate is rooted in the PCMLTFA and its associated regulations. These legal instruments define the obligations of reporting entities (e.g. banks, securities dealers, casinos, money services businesses) to perform client identification, keep records, and file reports of large or suspicious transactions.

Under PCMLTFA, FINTRAC is empowered to receive and analyse financial transaction reports, monitor compliance, compel reporting entities to produce information or documents, and make disclosures of tactical intelligence to law enforcement agencies.

FINTRAC also must operate within constraints on privacy and oversight: it is subject to audit by Canada’s Privacy Commissioner every two years, and it reports to Parliament via the Minister of Finance.

Scope & Reporting Entities

FINTRAC’s regulatory scope encompasses a wide range of sectors. Every entity designated under the PCMLTFA is required to comply with its rules.

Covered Entities

Entities subject to FINTRAC regulation include (but are not limited to) banks, credit unions, securities dealers, mutual fund dealers, insurance companies, money services businesses (MSBs), foreign exchange dealers, real estate brokers and salespersons, and casinos.

MSBs and foreign exchange dealers must additionally register with FINTRAC and maintain certain ongoing reporting and record-keeping standards.

Types of Reports

Entities must submit various types of disclosures to FINTRAC, including:

• Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) when there is reason to suspect that funds relate to money laundering or terrorist activity.

• Large Cash Transaction Reports when cash transactions exceed CAD 10,000.

• Electronic Funds Transfer Reports for cross-border or large transfers.

• Casino Disbursement Reports for payouts from casinos.

Reporting entities must also maintain records, perform client identification, and implement a compliance program under a risk-based regime.

Analysis, Intelligence & Disclosure

Beyond collecting reports, FINTRAC must analyse them, uncover patterns and networks, and share intelligence with law enforcement and other competent authorities.

FINTRAC uses analytical tools, data matching, and risk-scoring to sift through millions of transactions and isolate those that may have criminal links. It may also request additional information from reporting entities or government sources to enrich its analysis.

When FINTRAC identifies cases warranting investigation, it issues tactical disclosures of financial intelligence to police forces, security agencies, or prosecutors.

FINTRAC also produces strategic intelligence and typology reports, assessing trends in money laundering, terrorist financing, or sanctions evasion, which guide policy, awareness, and preventive efforts across sectors.

Disclosure decisions are governed by legal thresholds and must respect privacy, confidentiality, and relevance criteria established under the PCMLTFA.

Compliance Supervision & Enforcement

An essential part of FINTRAC’s role is supervising reporting entities to ensure ongoing compliance.

FINTRAC conducts compliance examinations, often unannounced, to verify that entities have implemented adequate compliance programs, policies, controls, and training in line with regulatory expectations.

Where non-compliance is found, FINTRAC may issue Notices of Violation, impose administrative monetary penalties (AMPs), or require remedial plans. Entities may respond, appeal, or negotiate mitigations as allowed by law.

In its recent proposals (Bill C-2), the Canadian government has sought to strengthen FINTRAC’s powers, including higher penalties and enhanced coordination with other federal agencies.

Challenges & Evolution

FINTRAC faces a number of ongoing challenges typical of modern FIUs and regulatory bodies.

A major challenge is data volume and quality, handling millions of transaction reports annually means filtering vast amounts of noise to find meaningful signals.

Evolving threats, such as virtual assets, cryptocurrency, sanctions evasion, and cross-border complexity, require FINTRAC to continuously adapt its analytical models and legal tools.

Coordination with other federal bodies is critical. FINTRAC works with the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) to share compliance information and ensure consistency across oversight frameworks.

Proposed reforms (Bill C-2) aim to expand FINTRAC’s authority, including stronger powers to enforce compliance, impose more severe penalties, and accelerate cooperation with other agencies.

Strengthen Your Canadian AML/ATF Compliance Framework

For institutions operating in or interacting with Canadian financial markets, aligning your compliance program to FINTRAC’s expectations is critical. Focus on solid risk-based frameworks, robust customer screening, transaction monitoring, and high-fidelity reporting to reduce the risk of violations.

Using tools like Watchlist Management, Customer Screening, and Transaction Monitoring helps ensure that alerts and reports meet FINTRAC’s standards, support investigative intelligence, and withstand regulatory scrutiny.

Contact Us Today To Strengthen Your Canadian AML/ATF Compliance Posture