Global: EBA publishes final Guidelines to strengthen AML/CFT supervision in the EU

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published its final Guidelines on cooperation and information exchange between prudential supervisors, AML/CFT supervisors, and financial intelligence units.

It is setting out how prudential supervisors, anti-money laundering, and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) supervisors and financial intelligence units (FIUs) should cooperate and exchange information in relation to AML/CFT, in line with provisions laid down in the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD).

These Guidelines shows the practical modalities of cooperation and information exchange between prudential supervisors, AML/CFT supervisors and FIUs, both at the level of Member States, and across the EU’s Single Market. In particular, the Guidelines facilitate and support the cooperation and information exchange throughout the supervisory life cycle covering authorisations of new institutions, on-going supervision including the risk assessment, and, where relevant, the imposition of supervisory measures and sanctions, including the withdrawal of the authorisation.

The EBA consulted on these Guidelines between May and August 2021. In its Special Report 2021/13 published in June 2021, the European Court of Auditors called for enhanced guidance for incorporation of ML/TF risk into prudential supervision and recognised the need to publish these guidelines as a matter of priority by the end of 2021.