Financial intelligence, or FININT, is the collection and analysis of financial data to reveal how money moves and who controls it. It draws on transaction records, corporate ownership filings, sanctions lists, property and court records, and — increasingly — public blockchain explorer data. Following the money is one of the oldest investigative principles, because financial ties are hard to fake and often expose relationships nothing else will.
In open-source work, FININT overlaps heavily with due diligence and fraud investigation. Analysts map ownership networks, trace payments, and flag anomalies that suggest laundering or deception. Much of the underlying data is public — company registries, filings, and the transparent ledgers of cryptocurrencies — which makes financial signals a powerful, verifiable complement to other intelligence.