- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Kyle Brasseur2023-12-14T15:42:00
A new agency to supervise high-risk financial institutions across the European Union regarding their anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) activities gained provisional approval from the Council of the European Union and European Parliament.
The Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) is soon expected to receive final adoption following the agreement between the two sides announced Wednesday. The creation of AMLA was proposed as part of a July 2021 package of rules presented by the European Commission to strengthen the efficiency of AML/CFT efforts in the region.
In addition to supervisory powers, AMLA will be granted the ability to impose monetary penalties on the entities it will oversee.
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The European Union’s recently approved Anti-Money Laundering Authority will be based in Frankfurt, Germany, and begin operations in 2025.
The European Union moved closer to finalizing rules that would expand current anti-money laundering and customer due diligence obligations to new sectors, in addition to granting greater powers to national financial intelligence units.
The impact of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority to improve the coordination and success of AML activities will be largely indirect, depending on its influence over European national governments continuing to supervise most EU financial services firms.
Breaches of the EU’s GDPR can cost companies substantial sums and huge reputational damage. Now some are warning that the implementation of the EU’s AI Act will be just as far-reaching, and could potentially lead to similar numbers of cases.
Any product that uses AI needs to be safety assessed for its entire lifespan under new rules that went into effect recently across the EU. Experts warned companies using AI to tailor products could be classed as “manufacturers” and face the same duty of care as developed.
When lawmakers slam the U.K.’s chief financial regulator as “incompetent,” it not only opens the doors for others to pile criticism on it, but it sparks a debate about how the organization can be improved–or removed.
