Source: OJ L, 2024/1620, 19.6.2024Current language: EN
- Anti-money laundering
Basic legislative acts
- Anti-money laundering authority regulation (AMLAR)
Article 13 The listing of selected obliged entities
Summary What does Article 13 of the Anti-money laundering authority regulation (AMLAR) say?
This article establishes the selection mechanism that determines which credit institutions and financial institutions will fall under the Authority's direct supervision as "selected obliged entities." It directly builds on Article 12, which sets out the risk assessment methodology, since the trigger for selection here is a high residual risk profile classification produced by that assessment.
The article is notably detailed, setting out a layered set of criteria and tie-breaking rules to arrive at the final list, including caps on numbers, cross-border footprint, and third-country transaction volumes.
It also establishes the procedural timeline for the selection process and contains a safeguard ensuring that at least one entity per Member State can be brought under direct supervision even if none would otherwise qualify through the standard criteria.
Important points:
- The Authority is required to select for direct supervision those credit institutions and financial institutions whose residual risk profile has been classified as high under Article 12, with cross-border reach and third-country transaction volumes used as tie-breaking criteria where numbers need to be capped.
- The Authority must commence the first selection process by 1 July 2027, publish the resulting list, and begin direct supervision six months after publication, with the process repeated every three years thereafter.
- A selected obliged entity remains under the Authority's direct supervision until a subsequent selection process produces a new list that no longer includes it.
Springlex's summary of the article, a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.
Credit institutions and financial institutions, and groups of credit institutions and financial institutions, whose residual risk profile has been classified as high pursuant to Article 12 shall qualify as selected obliged entities.
However, where more than 40 entities are identified pursuant to paragraph 1, the Authority may, in consultation with the supervisory authorities, agree on limiting the selection to a specific different number of entities or groups that is greater than 40.
In deciding on a specific different number of selected obliged entities as referred to in the first subparagraph, the Authority shall take into account its own resources in terms of its capacity to allocate or additionally hire the necessary number of supervisory and support staff and shall ensure that the required increase in the financial and human resources is feasible.
Pursuant to the decision on the maximum number, the selected obliged entities shall be those obliged entities qualifying under paragraph 1 which are operating in the highest number of Member States whether through establishments or under the freedom to provide services.
Where the application of the criterion referred to in the third subparagraph yields more than the set maximum number of selected obliged entities, the Authority shall select, from the obliged entities that would be selected in accordance with that subparagraph and that operate in the smallest number of Member States, those which have the highest ratio of the volume of transactions with third countries to the total volume of transactions measured over the last financial year.
Where in a Member State no credit institution, financial institution or group of credit institutions or financial institutions which is established, authorised or registered, or has a subsidiary there and whose risk profile is classified as high, qualifies as a selected obliged entity pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article, the Authority shall carry out an additional selection process in that Member State, on the basis of the methodology referred to in Article 12(7), point (b).
Following the additional selection process, the credit institution, financial institution or group of credit institutions or financial institutions, established or registered in that Member State whose risk profile is classified as high, shall qualify as a selected obliged entity.
Where several credit institutions or financial institutions, or groups of credit institutions or financial institutions, in the Member State in question have a risk profile that is classified as high, the entity operating in the highest number of Member States whether through establishments or under the freedom to provide services shall qualify as the selected obliged entity. If several credit institutions or financial institutions, or groups of credit institutions or financial institutions, operate in the same number of Member States, the entity with the highest ratio of transaction volume with third countries to total transaction volume measured over the last financial year shall qualify as a selected obliged entity.
The Authority shall commence the first selection process by 1 July 2027 and shall conclude the selection within six months of the date of commencement. Subsequently, the selection process shall be carried out every three years after the date of commencement of the first selection, and shall be concluded within six months for each selection process. The list of the selected obliged entities shall be published by the Authority without undue delay upon completion of the selection process. The Authority shall commence direct supervision of the selected obliged entities six months after publication of the list.
Prior to the publication of the list of the selected obliged entities, the Authority shall inform the relevant non-AML/CFT authorities of the outcomes of the process of assessment and classification of inherent and residual risk of the obliged entities subject to assessment.
A selected obliged entity shall remain subject to direct supervision by the Authority until the Authority commences the direct supervision of selected obliged entities based on a list established for the subsequent selection period which no longer includes that obliged entity.
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
selected obliged entity
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
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
non-AML/CFT authority
- a competent authority as defined in Article 4(1), point (40), of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council(27);
- the European Central Bank (ECB), when it carries out the tasks conferred on it by Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013;
- a resolution authority designated in accordance with Article 3 of Directive 2014/59/EU;
- a designated authority as defined in Article 2(1), point (18), of Directive 2014/49/EU;
- a competent authority as defined in Article 3(1), point (35), of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114.
Definition
funds
Definition
supervisory authority