Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) colleges are effective tools for facilitating the exchange of information, which has improved the effectiveness of AML/CFT supervision within the European Union, concludes the European Banking Authority (EBA) in its fifth report published on Wednesday 22 October.
However, one important objective has not yet been achieved: dealing in a coordinated way with issues that affect several entities in a group. The EBA noted that some supervisors had not yet fully adapted the operation of colleges to the level of ML/FT risk they presented. As a result, supervisors have not always been able to allocate sufficient resources to the most strategic colleges.
It also noted that most of the colleges it had actively monitored were not doing enough to identify common ML/FT risks and AML/CFT issues. As a result, the competent authorities participating in these colleges were often unable to have constructive discussions on the need for a common approach or action.
From 1 January 2026, responsibility for the supervision of AML/CFT colleges will be transferred to the new European AML/CFT Authority (AMLA) (see EUROPE 13674/21). These findings will be useful in developing its monitoring framework.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/j4n (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)