Source: OJ L, 2024/1640, 19.6.2024Current language: EN
- Anti-money laundering
Basic legislative acts
- Sixth anti-money laundering (AML 6) directive
Article 55 Pecuniary sanctions
Summary What does Article 55 of the Sixth anti-money laundering (AML 6) directive say?
This article sets out the minimum pecuniary sanction levels that Member States must make available for breaches by obliged entities of key AML/CFT requirements.
It builds directly on Article 53, which establishes the general sanctioning framework, by specifying the concrete financial thresholds that must apply.
The article distinguishes between a general minimum threshold applicable to all obliged entities and a higher tier of sanctions specifically for credit institutions and financial institutions, reflecting the greater systemic risk they carry.
It also addresses how sanction amounts should be calibrated when an obliged entity is part of a larger group, anchoring fines to consolidated turnover figures.
Important points:
- Ensure your organisation can be fined at least EUR 1,000,000 or twice the benefit derived from the breach, whichever is higher, for serious, repeated or systematic breaches of internal controls, customer due diligence, reporting, and record retention obligations.
- If you are a credit institution or financial institution, the maximum sanction threshold rises significantly: at least EUR 10,000,000 or 10% of total annual turnover for legal persons, and at least EUR 5,000,000 for natural persons.
- Member States are required to ensure that the ability of the obliged entity to pay is taken into account, and that supervisors consult prudential authorities where a sanction could affect compliance with prudential regulation.
Springlex's summary of the article, a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.
Member States shall ensure that pecuniary sanctions are imposed on obliged entities for serious, repeated or systematic breaches, whether committed intentionally or negligently, of the requirements laid down in the following provisions of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624:
Chapter II (Internal policies, procedures and controls of obliged entities);
Chapter III (Customer due diligence);
Chapter V (Reporting obligations);
Article 77 (Record retention).
Member States shall also ensure that pecuniary sanctions can be imposed where obliged entities have not complied with administrative measures applied to them pursuant to Article 56 of this Directive or for breaches that are not serious, repeated or systematic.
Member States shall ensure that in the cases referred to in paragraph 1, first subparagraph, the maximum pecuniary sanctions that can be imposed amount at least to twice the amount of the benefit derived from the breach where that benefit can be determined, or at least EUR 1 000 000, whichever is higher.
For Member States whose currency is not the euro, the value referred to in the first subparagraph shall be the corresponding value in the national currency on 9 July 2024.
Member States shall ensure that, by way of derogation from paragraph 2, where the obliged entity concerned is a credit institution or a financial institution, the following pecuniary sanctions can also be imposed:
in the case of a legal person, maximum pecuniary sanctions of at least EUR 10 000 000 or, in the Member States whose currency is not the euro, the corresponding value in the national currency on 9 July 2024, or 10 % of the total annual turnover according to the latest available accounts approved by the management body, whichever is higher; where the obliged entity is a parent undertaking or a subsidiary of a parent undertaking which is required to prepare consolidated financial accounts in accordance with Article 22 of Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council(44), the relevant total annual turnover shall be the total annual turnover or the corresponding type of income in accordance with the relevant accounting regime according to the last available consolidated accounts approved by the management body of the ultimate parent undertaking;
in the case of a natural person, maximum pecuniary sanctions of at least EUR 5 000 000 or, in the Member States whose currency is not the euro, the corresponding value in the national currency on 9 July 2024.
Member States may empower competent authorities to impose pecuniary sanctions exceeding the amounts referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3.
Member States shall ensure that, when determining the amount of the pecuniary sanction, the ability of the obliged entity to pay the sanction is taken into account and that, where the pecuniary sanction may affect compliance with prudential regulation, supervisors consult the authorities competent to supervise compliance by the obliged entities with relevant Union legal acts.
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
financial mixed activity holding company
Definition
crypto-asset service provider
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
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
crypto-asset
Definition
property
Definition
management body
Definition
competent authority
- a Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU);
- a supervisory authority;
- a public authority that has the function of investigating or prosecuting money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing, or that has the function of tracing, seizing or freezing and confiscating criminal assets;
- a public authority with designated responsibilities for combating money laundering or terrorist financing;
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
Definition
third country
Definition
funds
Definition
supervisory authority
Definition
obliged entity
Footnote 44