Accountancy Europe welcomes the appointment of new Anti-Money Laundering Authority Chair

Accountancy Europe warmly welcomes the overwhelming approval by MEPs of Bruna Szego as the Chair-designate of the EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA). While her appointment is yet to be confirmed by the Council, this endorsement is a crucial step toward her leadership in this vital role for the EU’s anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) efforts. The establishment of AMLA represents a pivotal step to ensure AML and CFT measures are implemented and enforced consistently and effectively across all Member States.

Accountancy Europe’s CEO, Eelco van der Enden, commented: “as the accountancy profession continues to combat money laundering, Accountancy Europe and its members remain committed to supporting AMLA. We stand ready to provide insights from practice to help ensure the new oversight framework is suitable and effective for all sectors.”

Read Accountancy Europe’s new publication Navigating the EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (2024).

AMLA holds important responsibilities toward both financial and non-financial sector obliged entities. This includes coordination and oversight of AML/CFT supervisors in these sectors, including self-regulatory bodies in the non-financial sector.

Eelco continued: “we urge AMLA to carefully consider the significant differences between the non-financial and financial sector obliged entities to ensure its effectiveness. These differences stem from different roles they play in the market, the nature of their operations, and the unique risks they face. AMLA needs to account for these differences in its decisions, while ensuring that the roles and responsibilities of oversight remain clear and distinct.”

In developing Regulatory Technical Standards and Guidelines, we recommend for AMLA to ensure the new rules are fit-for-purpose and adapted to the respective obliged entities, taking account of their distinct characteristics. Adapting the framework to these variations will be key to achieve practical and impactful AML rules implementation across all sectors.

Accountancy Europe encourages AMLA to integrate the following principles into its work:

• risk-based approach: risks differ not only across Member States but also between categories of obliged entities. Tailored measures are crucial to address these varying risks effectively
• proportionality: rules should be designed to reflect the size, structure, and capacity of different obliged entities. Smaller practices, for example, will struggle with requirements designed for larger organisations
• sector-specific insights: AMLA should adapt its approach to the realities of non-financial professions, while leveraging lessons from the financial sector. This includes recognising the distinct roles accountants play in areas such as client relationships, risk assessment, transaction monitoring and reporting
• sector specific expertise: we encourage AMLA to recruit staff with relevant expertise in financial and non-financial sectors. Dedicated expertise is necessary to ensure tailored and effective supervision
• cross-border collaboration and intelligence sharing: effective compliance regimes – such as due diligence, know your client (KYC), and transaction monitoring – are essential but insufficient on their own. Strengthening cross-border intelligence sharing will help eliminate weak links in the EU’s defences and enhance overall resilience. We encourage AMLA to prioritise such collaboration across the EU and with other jurisdictions, given the global nature of financial crime

We are committed to fostering collaboration within the AML ecosystem. Effective coordination between all stakeholders — obliged entities, supervisors, law enforcement, and legislators — is vital for meaningful progress. AMLA’s leadership, while ensuring clear roles and responsibilities, will strengthen this collaborative approach.