On 13 December 2023, the European Commission announced that the European Parliament and the Council of the EU had reached a provisional agreement on the 2021 Commission’s proposal to establish an EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority for countering money laundering and financing of terrorism (AMLA). The latter, as part of a larger package on countering money laundering and terrorist financing, will exercise direct supervisory powers over certain credit and financial institutions, including crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), if they are deemed to be high-risk or are operating across borders.
AMLA will also ensure an integrated mechanism with national supervisors to ensure obliged entities’ compliance with AML/CFT-related obligations in the financial sector, including the implementation of targeted financial sanctions, asset freezes and confiscations.
Furthermore, AMLA will support national financial intelligence units (FIUs) in analysing suspicious transactions and detecting money laundering cases by supporting and managing the information-sharing system FIU.Net.
The text will now be submitted to the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) for approval before going back to the Council and the European Parliament for its formal adoption. In parallel, EU legislators continue to negotiate on the Regulation of anti-money-laundering requirements for the private sector and the Directive on anti-money laundering mechanisms.
