Package of new anti-money laundering rules adopted by European Council
On 30 of May 2024 the Council of the European Union adopted the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Package (the AML Package). The AML Package contains an EU Single Rulebook Regulation, a new Directive and a Regulation establishing a new AML Authority. The European Parliament approved the package earlier in April 2024 (see this press release).
In this short read, Soeradj Ramsanjhal and Jelmer Richel discuss several highlights from the AML Package.
The AML Regulation and the new AML Directive
Arguably the most important change will be the introduction of a Regulation that will apply directly in all Member States. This will mean that most of the provisions in the Dutch Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act (Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financieren van terrorisme) will be replaced by the Regulation.
The new AML Directive focuses on the responsibilities of the financial intelligence units and the improvement of cooperation between regulatory authorities.
The Regulation will apply from mid-2027 and the Directive must be implemented in national laws by mid-2027 as well.
The AML Authority
A new European Supervisory Authority will be established in Frankfurt: the AMLA. The AMLA will be charged with, among other things, directly supervising the largest financial institutions, intervening in case of supervisory failures, acting as a central hub for supervisors and mediating disputes between them.
The AMLA is expected to start its operations in mid-2025 and will begin direct supervision after the new EU AML/CFT framework applies, in 2028.
Specific Dutch ALM laws
On 16 of April 2024, the Dutch Government informed the Dutch Parliament that it wishes to continue to develop a Dutch Anti-Money Laundering bill (Wet plan van aanpak witwassen) to, among other things, prohibit cash payments of €3,000 or more. The introduction of the possibility to allow joint transaction monitoring amongst banks and the sharing of transaction data to enable this will be postponed. Partly because of pressure from the Netherlands Data Protection Authority and to align it with the EU AML Package.
Next steps
The AML Package will have consequences for market parties. New entities will be added to the scope of institutions subject to AML/CFT rules (e.g., additional crypto related service providers) and several current requirements will be amended (e.g., the details of performing customer due diligence, when to report suspicious transactions).
Feel free to reach out to our team to discuss what these rules can mean for your organisation.
