A lot of EMIs/Banks/Crypto exchanges focus more on "pretending to be compliant" and less being actually compliant. They got first line defense controls like KYC, account freezes for large transfers to ask for documentation, but nothing that stops a smart money launderer from gaming the system. The governments probably got interested in them after they found one or several individuals gamed their system long enough to move large amounts of money.
Remember that "compliance departments" at banks are typically made up of 90% college kids pushing papers for 50k/year and 10% "higher echelon" professionals who are more worried about dick measuring contests than actually enforcing regulations (A lot of them make 6 figures and you really wonder what is their purpose at the bank). They focus on the smaller fish but as a result, a lot of the bigger fish get away with violations because they come with convincing stories/documentation and can keep things going for a long time before the authorities figure out what's going on. If that is the case with large banks, you can imagine how "compliance" works in EMIs that consist of geeks with macbook pros and some VC/mob money.
PS: Yes i consider N26 an EMI just by the way they operate, i wouldn't gamble on any license they got.
