EU Money Laundering Regulator AMLA to Oversee Senior Finance Workers

The EU’s new money laundering regulator, the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), is set to oversee senior finance workers among its raft of powers. Laws published by the EU in its official journal earlier this week provided a variety of details on how AMLA will operate once it assumes control of EU money laundering policing in 2025.

One significant power AMLA will have is the ability to order the “removal of members of the management body” at companies. This could occur if an organization, such as a bank, has repeated instances of non-compliance with AML laws, including having lax procedures for customers who pose a high money laundering risk. On-site inspections will also apply to senior management and can extend to a person’s private residence if it shares an address with the business premises.

The EU laws also stipulate that AMLA should establish a central database with information collected from supervisory authorities in EU member states. This database will include information on all relevant companies subject to a country’s money laundering rules, details about any sanctions or penalties imposed on businesses, and any ‘fit and proper’ assessments of senior staff. Information from this database will be used by AMLA to conduct ‘fit and proper’ assessments of shareholders or members of the management body of regulated financial institutions.

The ‘fit and proper’ assessment aims to ensure that the management and shareholders are “of good repute, act with honesty and integrity, and possess the knowledge and expertise necessary to carry out their functions.” The EU specified that personal data regarding these individuals must be deleted from the database “where it is no longer necessary to keep them,” and added that the register “should not contain any data covered by legal privilege.” AMLA will be able to share information from the database with supervisory bodies in EU member states, with the EU stating this information should be provided “where necessary, on a confidential and need-to-know basis.”

Additionally, the EU rules address the consequences if AMLA finds senior financial management staff “responsible for a breach by the selected obliged entity.” AMLA could impose “pecuniary sanctions” on individuals, although the rules did not specify what these penalties might be, only stating that they would be “effective, proportionate and dissuasive.”

By fLEXI tEAM