In short
- The Guardian notes that thirty-one licences for exploration have been issued by the International Seabed Authority, but no commercial mining has occurred as of April 2024.
- The Guardian highlights that Meta's Waterworth cable will be the longest ever at 50,000km, with about 60 new cables planned by big tech companies.
What happened
The Guardian details a series of incidents involving undersea cables, including the Eagle S tanker damaging five cables on Christmas Day 2024, nearly disrupting electricity and internet provision in Finland and Estonia. Authorities struggled to enforce laws outside territorial waters, highlighting vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure.
The article discusses the growing geopolitical tensions around undersea assets, with tech giants planning about 60 new cables and the US issuing an executive order in April 2024 to allow deep-sea mining. The International Seabed Authority has issued thirty-one exploration licences, but no mining has started, and a bloc of 40 countries supports a moratorium.
Vast amounts of electricity and oil, 95-99% of global internet traffic and $10tn (£7.75tn) of financial transactions travel through this system every day.
In numbers
- $10tn Daily financial transactions through undersea cables
- 95-99% Global internet traffic carried by undersea cables
- 50,000km Length of Meta's Waterworth cable
Named in this item
What compliance teams should check
- Review exposure to undersea cable disruptions, especially in Finnish and Estonian waters, referencing the Eagle S incident on Christmas Day 2024.
- Monitor developments in deep-sea mining applications, including the April 2024 US executive order and requests to mine the Clarion-Clipperton zone.
- Assess risk from tech giants' planned cables, including Meta's Waterworth cable (50,000km) and the approximately 60 new cables mentioned by The Guardian.
Why it matters
This story underscores the critical role of undersea infrastructure in global finance and communications, with $10tn in daily transactions and 95-99% of internet traffic at risk. Increasing incidents of sabotage, ambiguous legal jurisdiction, and unilateral actions like the US executive order for deep-sea mining threaten the stability and security of these assets. Compliance officers must be alert to evolving typologies, jurisdictional gaps, and the growing influence of tech giants, as disruptions could have severe AML/CFT implications for transaction monitoring, data integrity, and operational resilience.
Catch stories like these on your own customers.
complead screens your customers against adverse media, sanctions and PEP lists, and re-checks them every day. When a name you hold turns up in the news, it lands in your case queue with the evidence attached.