Source: AMLA final report draft
Preamble Recitals
This is a draft act
This text has been parsed from the AMLA final report draft as published on 21 July 2026. While we run a suite of validations, the automated parsing can result in errors. Also, before it is finally adopted by the Commission, its wording, numbering and references may change, and entire articles might be removed or added.
Earlier drafts: AMLA consultation paper draft (16 December 2025)
Recital 1
The Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (hereinafter ‘the Authority’) should select, and directly supervise, certain obliged entities. Following the selection process, supervisory tasks and powers should transfer from the national level to the Authority.. Where the conditions for selection are no longer met, supervisory tasks and powers should transfer from the Authority back to the national level
Recital 2
Secure and reliable transmission of information between the Authority and financial supervisors is essential to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of data collected and processed for the selection of obliged entities for direct supervision. Establishing a dedicated channel supports timely communication and safeguards sensitive information..
Recital 3
The selection process commences with the identification of obliged entities that meet the criteria set out in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1620. These are credit institutions, financial institutions, and groups thereof operating in at least six Member States, including their home Member State, either through establishments or by providing relevant services under the freedom to provide services above the materiality thresholds set out in Article 1 of Delegated Regulation (EU) XXXX/XXX [RTS under Article 12(7) AMLAR].
Recital 4
Financial supervisors should collect data in 2026 to identify the first obliged entities to be assessed during the first selection process that will start no later than 1 July 2027. From the second selection process in 2030, the financial supervisors should, to the extent possible, use data that has been collected for other purposes, such as periodic risk assessment at the national level, to reduce the reporting burden on obliged entities and simplify the process. Where such data is not available, up to date or suitable, a dedicated data collection should be carried out.
Recital 5
To ensure the orderly and timely submission of information necessary for the selection process referred to in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1620, the Authority should communicate with financial supervisors and, where applicable, publish the relevant details on deadlines, data exchange format specifications including data and metadata information, and related submission procedures to the Authority. The proactive dissemination of information should enable financial supervisors to adequately prepare and adhere to the reporting requirements. It should also enable financial supervisors to reuse the same or similar data‑exchange specifications and procedures for reporting from obliged entities to financial supervisors.
Recital 6
Reliable and accurate data is necessary to ensure a sound and equitable selection process. To ensure the quality and integrity of submitted information, it is essential to implement robust validation rules, quality checks and plausibility assessments prior to transmission to the Authority. Additionally, data quality also relies on having appropriate processes in place and applying expert knowledge when preparing and assessing the information to submit to the Authority.
Recital 7
Where the quality or reliability of specific data cannot be ensured, financial supervisors should accompany it with the justification provided by the obliged entity, such as the rationale for using proxies, estimates, or alternative methodologies. This approach ensures transparency regarding data limitations while allowing the continued transmission of the required information.
Recital 8
To ensure a transparent and accountable selection process of obliged entities for direct supervision, the Authority should clearly and without undue delay communicate the results of this process to the General Board in supervisory composition and selected obliged entities.
Recital 9
Selected obliged entities should be informed of their rights and obligations upon notification of the selection decision, including the possibility of judicial review under Union law, for legal certainty and procedural fairness.
Recital 10
The Authority should public the list of selected obliged entities on its website to ensure that the public can easily identify which obliged entities are under direct supervision of the Authority and provides those entities with clear and timely information about their status and applicable timelines, thereby promoting transparency and legal certainty. Following a selection process, the transfer of supervisory tasks and powers may occur from national level to the Authority and from the Authority back to national level. Reciprocal arrangements are thus essential for ensuring the continuity of supervision as well as the seamless continuation of pending supervisory procedures or investigations.
Recital 11
To ensure the continuity and effectiveness of supervision, the authority transferring supervision should provide the authority assuming supervision with all necessary information to enable a comprehensive understanding of the main risks and supervisory history associated with the obliged entity. This transfer of information is critical to allow the authority assuming supervision to efficiently take over its supervisory responsibilities and to ensure that there is no disruption in the monitoring and mitigation of money laundering and terrorist financing risks.
Recital 12
To ensure efficiency and consistency of supervision, the authority assuming supervision may decide to take over pending supervisory procedures or investigations when there is a transfer of supervisory tasks and powers between financial supervisors and the Authority. The authority assuming supervision should take into account its capacity and resources before deciding to take over a pending supervisory procedure or investigation.
Recital 13
In the case of groups, consistent with the identification of the entire group as a selected obliged entity, the arrangements outlined in Articles 10, 11 and 12 should apply to the Authority and to each relevant financial supervisor in the Member States where the selected obliged entity operates, on a bilateral basis.
Recital 14
Effective transfer of supervisory competence requires comprehensive and timely communication between the Authority and financial supervisors. Prompt exchange of information on pending supervisory procedures and investigations and their status ensures transparency and should enable the authority assuming supervision to make informed decisions, thereby safeguarding continuity and legal certainty during the transition.
Recital 15
Pending supervisory procedures and investigations may include any ongoing actions regarding potential non-compliance with AML/CFT obligations or any supervisory activity which may be directed towards preparing the issuance of a supervisory decision, including the imposition of administrative measures, pecuniary sanctions and periodic penalty payments, addressed to one or more obliged entities or individuals. To ensure effectiveness of supervisory actions, and considering that supervisory procedures or investigations remain pending from their formal initiation until a final decision is reached, it is important to ensure close and continuous coordination during the change period.
Recital 16
The Authority may take steps to enter into existing cooperation arrangements between financial supervisors and other authorities that cover at least in part supervisory tasks transferred to the Authority, or establish new cooperation arrangements with third parties for such tasks. Financial supervisors may continue to apply existing cooperation arrangements to the extent they refer to the tasks not transferred to the Authority.
Recital 17
To promote impartiality and foster supervisory convergence, the JST Coordinator should be subject to a rotation principle. Such rotation shall not undermine the effectiveness or continuity of supervision. In duly justified cases, the rotation period may be adjusted. Any such adjustment should be appropriately documented.
Recital 18
Effective supervision of selected obliged entities requires timely information sharing within joint supervisory teams, as well as equal access to participation in meetings, discussions and other collaborative platforms relating to the supervisory tasks assigned.
Recital 19
This Regulation is based on the draft implementing technical standards submitted to the Commission by the Authority.
Recital 20
The Authority has conducted open public consultations on the draft implementing technical standards on which this Regulation is based and analysed the potential related costs and benefits,
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Definition
crypto-asset services
Definition
supervisor
Definition
financial mixed activity holding company
Definition
authority assuming supervision
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
authority transferring supervision
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
third country
Definition
funds