Source: OJ L, 2024/1640, 19.6.2024Current language: EN
- Anti-money laundering
Basic legislative acts
- Sixth anti-money laundering (AML 6) directive
Article 46 Provisions related to cooperation in the context of group supervision
Summary What does Article 46 of the Sixth anti-money laundering (AML 6) directive say?
This article governs how financial supervisors coordinate when overseeing credit institutions and financial institutions that operate as part of a group across multiple Member States.
It builds directly on the general supervision obligation in Article 37, establishing a clear division of responsibility: home Member State supervisors are accountable for group-wide AML/CFT policies and controls, while host Member State supervisors oversee compliance at the local establishment level.
The article sets out a detailed framework for information sharing between supervisors, specifies what types of information must be exchanged, and provides AMLA with a dispute resolution role where cooperation breaks down.
Notably, the article's scope extends beyond the financial sector to also cover groups of non-financial obliged entities and cross-border service provision scenarios.
Important points:
- Financial supervisors of home and host Member States are required to cooperate and share information covering group structure, beneficial ownership, customer due diligence, internal policies, and intended sanctions.
- Financial supervisors may refer cases to AMLA where information has not been shared, a cooperation request has been rejected or not acted upon, or there is a disagreement on remedial measures.
- AMLA is required to develop draft regulatory technical standards by 10 July 2026 detailing the respective duties of home and host supervisors and the modalities of cooperation between them.
Springlex's summary of the article, a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.
In the case of credit institutions and financial institutions that are part of a group, Member States shall ensure that, for the purposes laid down in Article 37(1), financial supervisors of the home Member State and those of the host Member State cooperate with each other to the greatest extent possible, regardless of their respective nature or status. They shall also cooperate with AMLA when acting as a supervisor.
Except when AMLA acts as a supervisor, Member States shall ensure that the financial supervisors of the home Member State supervise the effective implementation of the group-wide policies, procedures and controls referred to in Chapter II, Section 2, of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624. Member States shall also ensure that financial supervisors of the host Member State supervise the compliance of the establishments located in the territory of their Member State with Regulations (EU) 2024/1624 and (EU) 2023/1113.
For the purposes of this Article, and except in cases where AML/CFT supervisory colleges are set up in accordance with Article 49, Member States shall ensure that financial supervisors provide one another with any information they require for the exercise of their supervisory tasks, whether on request or on their own initiative. In particular, financial supervisors shall exchange any information that could significantly influence the assessment of the inherent or residual risk exposure of a credit institution or financial institution in another Member State, including:
identification of the group’s legal, governance and organisational structure, covering all subsidiaries and branches;
relevant information on the beneficial owners and senior management, including outcomes of fit and proper checks, whether carried out under this Directive or under other Union legal acts;
policies, procedures and controls in place within the group;
customer due diligence information, including customer files and records of transactions;
adverse developments in relation to the parent undertaking, subsidiaries or branches, which could seriously affect other parts of the group;
pecuniary sanctions that financial supervisors intend to impose and administrative measures that financial supervisors intend to apply in accordance with Section 4 of this Chapter.
Member States shall also ensure that financial supervisors are able to conduct, within their powers, inquiries on behalf of a requesting supervisor, and to share the information obtained through such inquiries, or to facilitate the conduct of such inquiries by the requesting supervisor.
By 10 July 2026, AMLA shall develop draft regulatory technical standards and submit them to the Commission for adoption. Those draft regulatory technical standards shall detail the respective duties of the home and host supervisors, and the modalities of cooperation between them.
Power is delegated to the Commission to supplement this Directive by adopting the regulatory technical standards referred to in the first subparagraph in accordance with Articles 49 to 52 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1620.
Financial supervisors may refer to AMLA any of the following situations:
where a financial supervisor has not communicated the information referred to in paragraph 3;
where a request for cooperation has been rejected or has not been acted upon within a reasonable time;
where there is a disagreement on the basis of objective reasons on breaches identified and on the pecuniary sanctions to be imposed or administrative measures to be applied on the entity or group to remedy those breaches.
AMLA may act in accordance with the powers conferred on it under Article 33 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1620. When doing so, AMLA shall provide its opinion on the subject-matter of the request within 1 month.
Member States shall ensure that this Article also applies to the supervision of:
groups of obliged entities in the non-financial sector;
obliged entities operating under the freedom to provide services without any infrastructure in another Member States than the Member State where they are established, where the supervision of activities in that other Member State is carried out by the supervisors of that other Member State pursuant to Article 37(1), second subparagraph.
Where the situations referred to in paragraph 5 arise in relation to non-financial supervisors, AMLA may act in accordance with the powers conferred on it under Article 38 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1620.
Member States shall also ensure that in cases where obliged entities in the non-financial sector are part of structures which share common ownership, management or compliance control, including networks or partnerships, non-financial supervisors cooperate and exchange information.
Springlex and this text is meant purely as a documentation tool and has no legal effect. No liability is assumed for its content. The authentic version of this act is the one published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Definition
crypto-asset services
Definition
supervisor
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senior management
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host Member State
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financial mixed activity holding company
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crypto-asset service provider
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financial supervisor
Definition
credit institution
- a credit institution as defined in Article 4(1), point (1), of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013;
- a branch of a credit institution, as defined in Article 4(1), point (17), of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, when located in the Union, whether its head office is located in a Member State or in a third country;
Definition
AML/CFT supervisory college
Definition
parent undertaking
- for groups whose head office is located in the Union, an obliged entity that is a parent undertaking as defined in Article 2, point (9), of Directive 2013/34/EU that is not itself a subsidiary of another undertaking in the Union, provided that at least one subsidiary undertaking is an obliged entity;
- for groups whose head office is located outside of the Union, where at least two subsidiary undertakings are obliged entities established in the Union, an undertaking within that group established in the Union that:
- is an obliged entity;
- is an undertaking that is not a subsidiary of another undertaking that is an obliged entity established in the Union;
- has a sufficient prominence within the group and a sufficient understanding of the operations of the group that are subject to the requirements of this Regulation; and
- is given the responsibility of implementing group-wide requirements under Chapter II, Section 2 of this Regulation;
Definition
home Member State
Definition
crypto-asset
Definition
non-financial supervisor
Definition
establishment
- a branch or subsidiary;
- in the case of credit institutions and financial institutions, an infrastructure qualifying as an establishment under prudential regulation;
Definition
property
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express trust
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legal arrangement
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management body
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terrorist financing
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group
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money laundering
Definition
financial institution
- an undertaking other than a credit institution or an investment firm, which carries out one or more of the activities listed in points (2) to (12), (14) and (15) of Annex I to Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council(32), including the activities of currency exchange offices (bureaux de change), but excluding the activities referred to in point (8) of Annex I to Directive (EU) 2015/2366, or an undertaking the principal activity of which is to acquire holdings, including a financial holding company, a mixed financial holding company and a financial mixed activity holding company;
- an insurance undertaking as defined in Article 13, point (1), of Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(33), insofar as it carries out life or other investment-related assurance activities covered by that Directive, including insurance holding companies and mixed-activity insurance holding companies as defined, respectively, in Article 212(1), points (f) and (g), of Directive 2009/138/EC;
- an insurance intermediary as defined in Article 2(1), point (3), of Directive (EU) 2016/97 where it acts with respect to life insurance and other investment-related insurance services, with the exception of an insurance intermediary that does not collect premiums or amounts intended for the customer and which acts under the responsibility of one or more insurance undertakings or intermediaries for the products which concern them respectively;
- an investment firm as defined in Article 4(1), point (1), of Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council(34);
- a collective investment undertaking, in particular:
- an undertaking for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) as defined in Article 1(2) of Directive 2009/65/EC and its management company as defined in Article 2(1), point (b), of that Directive or an investment company authorised in accordance with that Directive and which has not designated a management company, that makes available for purchase units of UCITS in the Union;
- an alternative investment fund as defined in Article 4(1), point (a), of Directive 2011/61/EU and its alternative investment fund manager as defined in Article 4(1), point (b), of that Directive that fall within the scope set out in Article 2 of that Directive;
- a central securities depository as defined in Article 2(1), point (1), of Regulation (EU) No 909/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council(35);
- a creditor as defined in Article 4, point (2), of Directive 2014/17/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council(36) and in Article 3, point (b), of Directive 2008/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(37);
- a credit intermediary as defined in Article 4, point (5), of Directive 2014/17/EU and in Article 3, point (f), of Directive 2008/48/EC, when holding the funds as defined in Article 4, point (25), of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 in connection with the credit agreement, with the exception of the credit intermediary carrying out activities under the responsibility of one or more creditors or credit intermediaries;
- a crypto-asset service provider;
- a branch of a financial institution referred to in points (a) to (i), when located in the Union, whether its head office is located in a Member State or in a third country;
Definition
third country
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non-financial sector
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funds
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beneficial owner
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management body in its management function
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obliged entity