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The AMLA (AntiMoney Laundering Authority) is the new European authority dedicated to the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing (AMLFT). Created in 2024, it strengthens existing European systems by centralizing risk analysis and coordination between member states.
For a long time, the European Union left the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism to the individual Member States. The result: common rules, but uneven practices, disparate controls and well-known loopholes for fraudsters.
It is this discrepancy between the law and its application that motivated the creation of a centralized authority. The AMLA was designed to correct these discrepancies, harmonize requirements and react swiftly to serious breaches, particularly when they concern financial groups with a transnational dimension.
The European Commissionmade this clear in its 2020 action plan: the absence of effective European supervision hampers the ability of states to prevent illicit flows.
The AMLA's objective is therefore clear: to establish an independent, proactive authority with direct power, capable of making the same demands of everyone, regardless of borders or jurisdiction.
AMLA's new responsibilities
The arrival of the AMLA marks a turning point in European governance of banking compliance. The aim is no longer simply to reinforce regulatory obligations, but to ensure uniform, coordinated and responsive application across all member states.
Direct supervision of high-risk entities
The AMLA exercises direct supervision over financial institutions with a high risk profile, particularly those operating in several EU countries. This competence is aimed primarily at banks, fintechs, crypto service providers or payment companies. Entities will be selected according to criteria defined in the European regulation:
- Business volume
- Risk exposure
- Cross-border nature
The AMLA can carry out inspections, impose corrective plans and apply administrative sanctions.
Coordination of financial intelligence units
The AMLA thus becomes the reference authority for coordinating the FIUs (financial intelligence units) of the 27 member states. It will centralize exchanges, support joint investigations and ensure the interoperability of tools such as FIU.net. The aim of this coordination is to reinforce the traceability of suspicious financial flows circulating between several jurisdictions.
Development of harmonized standards
AMLA is also responsible for producing binding regulatory technical standards (RTS) and application standards (ITS). These texts provide a framework for internal controls, vigilance thresholds, customer profile assessment and data collection. The aim is to create a unified regulatory framework throughout the European Union.
Penalties and injunctions
The AMLA has full disciplinary powers. It will be able to impose administrative penalties on supervised entities of up to10% ofworldwide annual sales or 10 million euros, whichever is greater. In addition, it will be able to issue direct injunctions to national authorities deemed to be failing in their supervisory mission. This dual competence (financial and institutional) marks a major development in the European arsenal for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Creation of a European database
Finally, AMLA will be piloting the development of a common AML/CFT repository. Fed by the FIUs, this system will centralize data useful for monitoring suspicious flows, facilitate early detection of complex patterns, and reinforce operational vigilance.
In short, the AMLA acts as a central, technical and decision-making authority, with operational, normative and disciplinary powers. For players in the financial sector, its arrival implies a rapid adaptation and upgrading of existing systems.
Impact on financial and non-financial institutions
The arrival of the AMLA marks a turning point in the way European players, both financial and non-financial, must approach regulatory compliance. The new authority concentrates part of the supervision previously exercised by national regulators, and imposes a more homogeneous, rigorous and demanding approach.
For financial institutions
Banks, payment institutions, fintechs and digital asset service providers are on the front line. The AMLA will provide direct supervision of certain entities deemed to be high-risk, particularly those operating in several member states. This will involve enhanced controls, targeted inspections and a centralized assessment of theAML-CFT system.
But beyond this direct supervision, the entire industry will have to comply with a common set of requirements defined by the AMLA: technical standards, guidelines, traceability and reporting obligations. Institutions will have to demonstrate their ability to identify behavioral risks, document anomalies and transmit actionable data in real time.
For non-financial entities
The AMLA will also have a structuring impact on regulated professions outside the banking sector:
- Real estate agents
- Notaries
- Lawyers
- Insurers
- Digital platforms
If these players are not directly supervised by the authority, they will still have to comply with a unified framework, applied via national regulators and controlled indirectly.
Reinforced standards mean that internal policies need to be better formalized, detection tools need to be adapted, and actions need to be fully traceable. Compliance requirements are now aligned with those of the financial sector, with the same levels of documentary and operational requirements.
An unavoidable upgrade
All the players involved will need to integrate the new risk assessment criteria laid down by the AMLA. This implies better data structuring, a dynamic approach to customer or user profiles, and tools capable of long-term behavioral analysis.
The rise of the AMLA is accelerating a fundamental trend towards active, contextualized, data-driven compliance. A paradigm shift that no one can ignore.
How to anticipate AMLA requirements with RegTech
Faced with the standardization of European standards brought about by the AMLA, RegTech solutions are becoming essential levers for anticipating, adapting to and automating regulatory compliance. They offer institutions the opportunity to transform constraints into operational advantages.
The aim is no longer simply to comply, but to do so proactively, in real time and on the scale of European requirements. RegTech makes it possible, for example, to:
- Centralize and structure customer data in a format that can be used by regulatory intelligence
- Detecting risky behavior with dynamic scoring tools
- Automatically generate reports that comply with AMLA traceability requirements
- Keep abreast of regulatory changes with integrated updates
This ability to modularize compliance enables companies, including non-financial ones, to remain aligned without disrupting their business flows. This is where players like AP Solutions IO stand out: by integrating their solutions into existing business environments, they offer active, fluid and contextualized compliance.
Towards harmonized compliance, supported by AMLA
The creation of the AMLA marks a strategic shift in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing on a European scale. By centralizing responsibilities, reinforcing controls and imposing a uniform interpretation of risk, this new authority is forcing all players to rethink their approach to regulatory compliance.
From the reinforcement of obligations for financial institutions, to the rise in competence of non-financial sectors, each point addressed in this article confirms an underlying trend: that of more structured, more technological, but also more demanding compliance.
The AMLA embodies a paradigm shift, where the ability to anticipate, trace and contextualize risks becomes a real lever for safety and performance.
With this in mind, companies have everything to gain by relying on RegTech solutions capable of evolving with the European framework.
AP Solutions IO can help you get through this phase safely, methodically, agilely... and ahead of the game!
