Source: OJ L, 2024/1640, 19.6.2024Current language: EN
- Anti-money laundering
Basic legislative acts
- Sixth anti-money laundering (AML 6) directive
Article 49 AML/CFT supervisory colleges in the financial sector
Summary What does Article 49 of the Sixth anti-money laundering (AML 6) directive say?
This article establishes the framework for dedicated AML/CFT supervisory colleges in the financial sector.
These are permanent structures for cross-border cooperation between financial supervisors, required when a credit institution or financial institution has establishments in at least two other Member States, or when a third-country institution has establishments in at least three Member States.
The article builds directly on the general supervisory cooperation obligations in Article 46 by creating a more structured, formal mechanism for groups and institutions with significant cross-border footprints.
It sets out who the permanent college members are, how colleges function, the conditions for third-country supervisors to participate as observers, and the role of AMLA in facilitating college work.
Notably, the article does not apply when AMLA itself acts as supervisor.
Important points:
- Member States are required to ensure that financial supervisors set up AML/CFT supervisory colleges for cross-border financial groups and institutions meeting the establishment thresholds set out in this article.
- The article does not apply when AMLA acts as supervisor, meaning colleges are a national supervisory coordination tool for cases outside AMLA's direct supervisory remit.
- AMLA is required to develop draft regulatory technical standards by 10 July 2026 governing the functioning of these colleges, including conditions for third-country participation.
Springlex's summary of the article, a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.
Member States shall ensure that dedicated AML/CFT supervisory colleges are set up by the financial supervisor in charge of the parent undertaking of a group of credit institutions or financial institutions or of the head office of a credit institution or financial institution in any of the following situations:
where a credit institution or a financial institution, including groups thereof, has set up establishments in at least two different Member States other than the Member State where its head office is located;
where a third-country credit institution or financial institution has set up establishments in at least three Member States.
The permanent members of the college shall be the financial supervisor in charge of the parent undertaking or of the head office, the financial supervisors in charge of establishments in host Member States and the financial supervisors in charge of infrastructure in host Member States pursuant to Article 38.
This Article shall not apply when AMLA acts as a supervisor.
The activities of the AML/CFT supervisory colleges shall be proportionate to the level of the money laundering and terrorist financing risks to which the credit institution or financial institution or the group is exposed, and to the scale of its cross-border activities.
For the purposes of paragraph 1, Member States shall ensure that financial supervisors identify:
all credit institutions or financial institutions that have been authorised in their Member State and that have establishments in other Member States or third countries;
all establishments set up by credit institutions or financial institutions in other Member States or third countries;
establishments set up in their territory by credit institutions or financial institutions from other Member States or third countries.
In situations other than those covered by Article 38, where credit institutions or financial institutions carry out activities in other Member States under the freedom to provide services, the financial supervisor of the home Member State may invite the financial supervisors of those Member States to participate in the college as observers.
Where a group of credit institutions or financial institutions includes any obliged entity in the non-financial sector, the financial supervisor setting up the college shall invite the supervisors of those obliged entities to participate in the college.
Member States may allow the setting-up of AML/CFT supervisory colleges when a credit institution or financial institution established in the Union has set up establishments in at least two third countries. Financial supervisors may invite their counterparts in those third countries to set up such college. The financial supervisors participating in the college shall establish a written agreement detailing the conditions and procedures of the cooperation and exchange of information.
Member States shall ensure that colleges are used, among others, for exchanging information, providing mutual assistance or coordinating the supervisory approach to the group or institution, including, where relevant, the taking of appropriate and proportionate measures to address serious breaches of Regulations (EU) 2024/1624 and (EU) 2023/1113 that are detected at the level of the group or of the credit institution or financial institution or across the establishments set up by the group or institution in the jurisdiction of a supervisor participating in the college.
AMLA may attend the meetings of the AML/CFT supervisory colleges and shall facilitate their work in accordance with Article 31 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1620. Where AMLA decides to participate in the meetings of an AML/CFT supervisory college, it shall have the status of an observer.
Financial supervisors may allow their counterparts in third countries to participate as observers in AML/CFT supervisory colleges in the case referred to in paragraph 1, point (b) or where Union groups or credit institutions or financial institutions operate branches and subsidiaries in those third countries, provided that:
the third-country counterparts submit a request for participation and the members of the college agree with their participation, or the members of the college agree to invite those third-country counterparts;
Union data protection rules concerning data transfers are complied with;
the third-country counterparts sign the written agreement referred to in paragraph 8, third sentence, and share within the college the relevant information they possess for the supervision of the credit institutions or financial institutions or of the group;
the information disclosed is subject to a guarantee of professional secrecy requirements at least equivalent to that referred to in Article 67(1) and is used solely for the purposes of performing the supervisory tasks of the participating financial supervisors or of the counterparts in third countries.
Member States shall ensure that financial supervisors setting up the colleges carry out an assessment of whether the conditions of the first subparagraph are met and submit it to the permanent members of the college. That assessment shall be carried out prior to the third-country counterpart being allowed to join the college and may be repeated as necessary thereafter. The financial supervisors of the home Member State may seek the support of AMLA for the performance of that assessment.
Where deemed necessary by the permanent members of the college, additional observers may be invited, provided that confidentiality requirements are complied with. Observers may include prudential supervisors, including the ECB acting in accordance with Council Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013(43), as well as the European Supervisory Authorities and FIUs.
Where the members of a college disagree on the measures to be taken in relation to an obliged entity, they may refer the matter to AMLA and request its assistance in accordance with Article 33 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1620.
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 specify:
the general conditions for the functioning, on a risk-sensitive basis, of the AML/CFT supervisory colleges in the financial sector, including the terms of cooperation between permanent members and with observers, and the operational functioning of such colleges;
the template for the written agreement to be signed by financial supervisors pursuant to paragraph 8;
any additional measure to be implemented by the colleges when groups include obliged entities in the non-financial sector;
conditions for the participation of financial supervisors in third countries.
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.
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
Definition
host Member State
Definition
financial mixed activity holding company
Definition
crypto-asset service provider
Definition
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
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
Definition
terrorist financing
Definition
group
Definition
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
self-regulatory body
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third country
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non-financial sector
Definition
funds
Definition
supervisory authority
Definition
obliged entity
Footnote 43