AMLA establishes how large high-risk financial groups in the EU will be selected and supervised.

The large financial groups operating in at least six member states and presenting a high risk of money laundering or financing of terrorism will be assessed through a common European process before some of them come under the direct supervision of AMLA from 2028. National authorities will collect and verify information, and the new European authority will calculate the risk level, select entities, and lead the joint teams that will supervise them.

In short

1. National authorities will identify eligible institutions and financial groups, collect the necessary data, and verify whether the information is complete and plausible. AMLA will then use the same data and the same methodology for risk assessment across all member states.

2. The process concerns credit institutions, financial institutions, and their groups operating in at least six member states. Their cross-border activity makes them eligible for assessment, but direct supervision will also depend on their classification as high-risk.

3. Entities that authorities can demonstrate, based on credible and verifiable information, do not meet the criteria may be exempted from the initial reporting. Detailed data will only be required from institutions considered provisionally eligible.

4. When an entity moves from national supervision to AMLA or returns to national level, the authority transferring the file will send the supervision history, relevant information, and the status of ongoing procedures or investigations.

5. The standards published by AMLA are still technical drafts. They will be sent to the European Commission for adoption and will become mandatory after the implementation regulation is published in the Official Journal of the EU.

National authorities will start by identifying the institutions that can enter the selection process. Banks, other financial institutions, and groups conducting activities in at least six member states are targeted, either through headquarters and branches or by providing cross-border services. Meeting this criterion does not automatically mean that a company will be supervised by AMLA, as the final selection will depend on the assessment of the risk of money laundering and financing of terrorism.

The process will be divided into two stages to limit the volume of information requested from institutions that do not have a real chance of being selected. In the first stage, national supervisors will collect information regarding eligibility. If they can establish from objective, available, and verifiable data that an institution does not operate sufficiently extensively to enter the process, they may exempt it from this reporting, with the obligation to document the reasons for the decision. AMLA will be able to verify the justification for the exemption.

Institutions considered provisionally eligible will subsequently provide the detailed information necessary for the assessment. Authorities in the countries where the main headquarters are located will collect the data, and supervisors from other countries where the group operates will be able to correct any errors regarding the activities and entities in their jurisdictions. In the event of a disagreement between authorities, AMLA will be able to propose a reasoned solution and assist them in reaching a common position.

Before sending the data to Frankfurt, national supervisors will need to apply validation rules, quality controls, and plausibility tests. Incomplete or contradictory information may be rejected, and estimates or alternative methods used by an institution will need to be explained. AMLA will not modify the data received; significant corrections will need to be made and resent by the responsible national authority.

The agency will then calculate the inherent risk of each entity and assess the quality of its internal anti-money laundering systems. National authorities will be able to propose adjustments, but these will need to be supported by justifications and documents. If AMLA rejects a modification, it will need to justify its decision and communicate it to the relevant supervisor.

The list of selected institutions will not be published immediately after the scores are calculated. AMLA will first inform each entity, specifying the reasons and consequences of the selection, the ongoing procedures, the deadline for requesting corrections, and the rights of defense. Institutions will be able to request an analysis of the basis for the decision, will have access to the selection file, and will be able to seek judicial review at the Union level.

After completing these stages, AMLA will publish on its website the names of the selected entities, the date of the start of direct supervision, and the possibility of contesting the decision before the Court of the European Union. The list will remain available for at least six years. The first formal selection process must start by July 1, 2027, and direct supervision will begin six months after the publication of the list.

The takeover of an institution by AMLA will involve transferring its file from the national authorities. The inventory transferred will normally cover at least the last three years of supervision and will include the information necessary to understand the risks, controls, decisions, and identified issues. If the institution has been supervised for a shorter period, the entire available history will be transferred.

Ongoing investigations and supervision procedures will not automatically transfer to the new authority. The supervisor transferring the competence will try to finalize the files before the transfer. For cases that cannot be concluded, AMLA and the national authority will decide who continues the activity, taking into account the stage of the procedure, complexity, resources, and the need for the final outcome to produce legal effects.

Each selected entity will be supervised by a joint team made up of employees of AMLA and representatives of the relevant national authorities. The coordinator will come from AMLA staff and will be subject to a rotation rule, with the possibility of extending or shortening the mandate in justified cases, including to avoid conflicts of interest or maintain continuity. All team members will need to have equal access to information, meetings, and discussions related to supervision.

The final standards published on July 21 are not yet applicable norms. AMLA will send them to the European Commission, which must adopt the implementation regulation. The text will become mandatory in all member states on the twelfth day after its publication in the Official Journal.

AMLA was created to coordinate the application of European rules against money laundering and to directly supervise a group of financial institutions with cross-border activity and high risk. The previous regime relied mainly on national authorities, even when financial groups were conducting activities in multiple countries, which could lead to differences in assessment and enforcement between states.

The AMLA regulation allows the authority to supervise up to 40 institutions or groups in the first cycle. If more than 40 meet the criteria, the selection will take into account the number of states in which they operate and, when necessary, the proportion of transactions with countries outside the EU. The process will be repeated every three years, and the number of supervised entities may be increased later, depending on risks and the agency's resources.

https://2eu.brussels/ro/news-articles/amla-stabileste-cum-vor-fi-selectate-si-supravegheate-direct-marile-grupuri-financiare-cu-risc-ridicat-din-ue