Background On 13 December the Council of the EU, the European Parliament and the Commission reached an agreement on the inter-institutional negotiations on the new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA). ‘',AMLA will be a game changer to crack down on dirty money in the EU. It will supervise the 40 riskiest financial entities and it will oversee the non-financial sector to prevent cases like the Pandora Papers. AMLA will also play a crucial role in avoiding the circumvention of targeted financial sanctions like the ones included in the 11 sanctions packages approved by the EU against Russia ..read more

On 30 May, the Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Dorien Rookmaker (ECR, NL) hosted a roundtable that gathered representatives from the European Commission, national regulators and Permanent Representations, financial and payment institutions, money transfer industries, non-profit organisations (NPOs), the diamond industry as well as the gaming and betting sectors to discuss the issues of financial inclusion and de-risking. The discussion was moderated by Florence Ranson, Founder of REDComms. MEP Dorien Rookmaker opened the discussion by pointing out that first and foremost criminal inve ..read more

Background On 31 March 2023, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published Guidelines to tackle ‘unwarranted’ de-risking and ensure that customers have access to the financial services they need to participate in society. ‘De-risking refers to decisions made by credit and financial institutions to refuse to enter into, or to terminate, business relationships with individual customers or categories of customers associated with higher money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risk.’ To address this issue, the EBA has issued two new sets of Guidelines. These Guidelines will contribute to ..read more

Anti-Money Laundering Europe in association with Royal United Services Institute Europe (RUSI Europe) and the Future of Financial Intelligence Sharing (FFIS) in organised on February 28, a policy roundtable discussion on private-to-private AML collaboration. The event brought together some of the leading data protection and AML stakeholders to share good practices on information sharing initiatives to detect financial crime within the EU. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, and join our mailing list to receive updates about AML policy developments and future events. For further information, pl ..read more

On 23 January, Fabio Panetta, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) and Chair of the Task Force on the Digital Currency, held an exchange of views on the digital euro before the European Parliament’s Committee of Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON). Balance between privacy and AML/CFT Mr Panetta stated that it will remain under the co-legislators remit to decide on the balance between privacy and AML/CFT issues, preventing tax evasion or guaranteeing sanctions compliance. Moreover, the ECB will propose not to have access to personal data. Notably, he outlined that ..read more

Anti-Money Laundering Europe (AME) attended the DIGITAL EURO High-Level Conference organised by the European Commission on 7 November, to discuss the legislative framework enabling a digital euro for citizens and businesses. The event was timely, since the European Commission has announced a legislative proposal on a digital euro for early 2023. The panel “A digital Euro at the service of European citizens” discussed how to reconcile data protection and privacy with anti-money laundering (AML) requirements. The main points discussed were the following: • Mairead McGuinness, European Commission ..read more

Anti-Money Laundering Europe (AME) hosted a Digital Currencies Roundtable on Thursday 17 March 2022. The event focused on digital currencies, including Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and crypto-assets, in the context of the European Commission's ambitious legislative package on AML/CFT rules, the proposed Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and the revision of the Regulation on information accompanying transfers of funds. The event was moderated by Paolo Panico, from Paolo Panico’s Law Chambers and Chairman of the STEP Europe Region, and the speakers included Ashley Lannquist ..read more

The European Commission has put forward a series of measures designed to further strengthen the EU's framework to fight against money laundering and terrorist financing in 2020 and 2021. Check-out our timeline outlining these measures ..read more

A new package of legislative proposals to combat money laundering and counter the financing of terrorism has been put forward by the European Commission, on 20 July, for discussion by the European Parliament and Council. Described as a ‘game changer’ by the Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and the Capital Markets Union, Mairead McGuinness, it will improve the detection of suspicious transactions and activities, and close loopholes used to launder illicit proceeds or finance terrorist activities through the financial system. The package addresses new and emerging challen ..read more

This week, the European Commission published its 2020 Work Programme. The Commission plans the following actions in order to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. First of all, in order to ensure the integrity of the European financial system and reduce the risks of instability, a new Action Plan on Anti-Money Laundering will seek to improve the supervisory system and improve the enforcement of the rules. Secondly, the Commission will present a Communication on Business Taxation for the 21st century, focusing on the taxation aspects relevant in the Single Market. Moreover, an ..read more