Source: OJ L, 2024/1624, 19.6.2024Current language: EN
- Anti-money laundering
Basic legislative acts
- Anti-money laundering regulation (AMLR)
Article 37 Specific enhanced due diligence measures for cross-border correspondent relationships for crypto-asset service providers
Summary What does Article 37 of the Anti-money laundering regulation (AMLR) say?
This article is a crypto-asset-specific counterpart to Article 36, which governs cross-border correspondent relationships for traditional credit and financial institutions.
Article 37 applies that same correspondent due diligence logic to crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) entering into cross-border correspondent relationships with respondent entities outside the Union that provide similar crypto-asset services.
Before establishing such a relationship, CASPs must carry out a structured set of checks on the respondent entity — covering its licensing status, business nature, reputation, and AML/CFT controls — and secure senior management approval.
The article also addresses ongoing obligations: due diligence information must be kept up to date, and if a relationship is terminated for AML/CFT reasons, that decision must be documented.
AMLA is tasked with issuing guidelines by 10 July 2027 to further specify how these assessments should be conducted.
Important points:
- Verify that any non-EU respondent entity is licensed or registered, assess its AML/CFT controls, and obtain senior management approval before entering into a cross-border correspondent relationship involving crypto-asset services.
- Use the information gathered to determine, on a risk-sensitive basis, the appropriate measures to mitigate risks associated with the respondent entity, and keep that due diligence information updated regularly or when new risks emerge.
- AMLA is required to issue guidelines by 10 July 2027 specifying assessment criteria and risk-mitigating measures, including minimum actions where a respondent entity is found not to be registered or licensed.
Springlex's summary of the article, a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.
By way of derogation from Article 36, with respect to cross-border correspondent relationships involving the execution of crypto-asset services, with a respondent entity not established in the Union and providing similar services, including transfers of crypto-assets, crypto-asset service providers shall, in addition to the customer due diligence measures laid down in Article 20, when entering into a business relationship, be required to:
determine if the respondent entity is licensed or registered;
gather sufficient information about the respondent entity to understand fully the nature of the respondent’s business and to determine from publicly available information the reputation of the entity and the quality of supervision;
assess the respondent entity’s AML/CFT controls;
obtain approval from senior management before establishing the new correspondent relationship;
document the respective responsibilities of each party to the correspondent relationship;
with respect to payable-through crypto-asset accounts, be satisfied that the respondent entity has verified the identity of, and performed ongoing due diligence on, the customers having direct access to accounts of the correspondent entity, and that it is able to provide relevant customer due diligence data to the correspondent entity, upon request.
Where crypto-asset service providers decide to terminate correspondent relationships for reasons relating to AML/CFT policy, they shall document their decision.
Crypto-asset service providers shall update the due diligence information for the correspondent relationship on a regular basis or when new risks emerge in relation to the respondent entity.
Crypto-asset service providers shall take into account the information collected pursuant to paragraph 1 in order to determine, on a risk sensitive basis, the appropriate measures to be taken to mitigate the risks associated with the respondent entity.
By 10 July 2027, AMLA shall issue guidelines to specify the criteria and elements that crypto-asset service providers shall take into account for conducting the assessment referred to in paragraph 1 and the risk mitigating measures referred to in paragraph 2, including the minimum action to be taken by crypto-asset service providers upon identification that the respondent entity is not registered or licensed.
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
senior management
Definition
financial mixed activity holding company
Definition
crypto-asset service provider
Definition
cash
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
crypto-asset
Definition
property
Definition
management body
Definition
terrorist financing
Definition
correspondent relationship
- the provision of banking services by one credit institution as the correspondent to another credit institution as the respondent, including providing a current or other liability account and related services, such as cash management, international transfers of funds as defined in Article 4, point (25), of Directive (EU) 2015/2366, cheque clearing, payable-through accounts and foreign exchange services;
- the relationships between and among credit institutions and financial institutions including where similar services are provided by a correspondent institution to a respondent institution, and including relationships established for securities transactions or transfers of funds as defined in Article 4, point (25), of Directive (EU) 2015/2366, transactions in crypto-assets or transfers of crypto-assets;
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
third country
Definition
crypto-asset account
Definition
funds
Definition
business relationship
Definition
management body in its management function