On Wednesday 29 June the Council of the European Union reached a partial political agreement on the proposal to create the AMLA, the future European anti-money laundering authority.
This authority should enhance the effective functioning of the EU’s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing framework.
Given the cross-border nature of crime, the new authority will, inter alia, contribute to the harmonisation and coordination of supervisory practices in the financial and non-financial sectors, to the direct supervision of high-risk and cross-border financial entities and to the coordination of national financial intelligence units.
In its position, the Council gives the authority powers to directly supervise certain types of financial and credit institutions, including crypto-asset service providers, if they are considered risky.
The Council’s addition to the Commission’s original proposal comes at a time when inter-institutional negotiations on the ‘MiCA’ regulation, regulating crypto-assets (see EUROPE 12963/2), and the revision of the directive on transfer of funds to include crypto-assets were underway. An agreement on the second text was announced on Wednesday evening.
The Council also mandates the authority to monitor up to 40 groups and entities - at least in the first selection procedure - and to ensure full coverage of the internal market under its supervision. More powers are also given to the General Council in the governance of the AMLA.
The Council’s position is partial because a decision has not yet been taken on the seat of the future authority. At the June Ecofin Council, several Member States had indicated their willingness to host the AMLA, including Luxembourg and Germany (see EUROPE 12975/17).
On the Parliament’s side, the rapporteurs of the text, Luis Garicano (Renew Europe, Spain) and Emil Radev (EPP, Bulgaria), want to establish important criteria for determining the future seat of the AMLA, in order to ensure objectivity (see EUROPE 12972/23).
The Parliament has yet to decide its position.
See the Council’s partial position on AMLA: https://aeur.eu/f/2fb (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)