AML Task Force: What You Need to Know

Nicola Sharp of Rahman Ravelli outlines the European Commission’s latest step towards a new AML body.

The European Commission has assembled its own task force to assist with the creation of the new anti-money laundering authority (AMLA).

The AMLA Task Force is based within the Commission’s financial services directorate in Brussels. It is led by Commissioner Mairead McGuiness, supported by Director General John Berrigan.

The creation of the task force can be seen as the latest step in the European Commission’s moves towards strengthening the European Union’s (EU’s) rules on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).

In July 2021, the European Commission tabled a proposal to establish AMLA in an attempt to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. This was part of a legislative package aimed at implementing the 2020 action plan for a comprehensive policy on preventing these crimes.

AMLA is set to be at the centre of an integrated system composed of the authority itself and the national authorities with an AML/CFT supervisory mandate. It will support EU financial intelligence units (FIUs) and establish co-operation arrangements between them.

As well as the creation of AMLA, the 2021 package of legislative proposals also included:

• A regulation recasting the regulation on transfers of funds which aims to make transfers of crypto assets more transparent and fully traceable.
• A regulation on anti-money-laundering requirements for the private sector.
• A directive on anti-money-laundering mechanisms.

Now that the Council of the EU has agreed its position on the anti-money laundering regulation and directive, it is ready to start informal meetings with the European Parliament in order to agree on a final version of the texts.

The Council of the EU has stated that it expects AMLA to be a useful asset in AML/CFT, given the cross-border nature of such crime. It is seen as being likely to help regarding the harmonisation and co-ordination of supervisory practices in the financial and non-financial sectors, as well as in the direct supervision of high-risk and cross-border financial entities and the co-ordination of FIUs.