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EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority to be based in Frankfurt/Main – Insight EU mini-dossier

Feb 22, 2024 , , , , , , , , , ,
Anti-Money-Laundering Authority to be established in Frankfurt/Main. Source: Wirtschaftsförderung Frankfurt/Main

Brussels, 22 February 2024

Frankfurt has been chosen by Parliament and Council as the seat of AMLA, the EU’s new enforcer in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing.

In a joint vote on Thursday, MEPs and EU ambassadors chose Frankfurt to host the EU’s central enforcer in the fight against dirty money, the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA).

Nine candidates in total applied to host AMLA and presented their candidacies in joint public hearings. In the vote, Frankfurt received a majority of validly cast votes on the 1st round of voting, and was chosen to host the agency.

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Co-rapporteurs Emil Radev (EPP, Bulgaria) and Eva Maria Poptcheva (Renew, Spain) said:

“AMLA will be a game-changer in cracking down on dirty money in the EU. It will supervise the riskiest financial entities, oversee the non-financial sector, and play a crucial role in stopping evaders from circumventing targeted financial sanctions.

Now that Parliament has an equal say in choosing the agency’s seat, we have made the process more transparent with joint public hearings, and introduced specific selection criteria to ensure that the location enables the Authority to fully execute its tasks and powers. Congratulations to the winner, Frankfurt!”

Press conference

After the vote on Thursday at ca. 20.30, Parliament co-rapporteurs Emil Radev and Eva Maria Poptcheva will hold a joint press conference with Willem van de Voorde, Belgium’s Permanent Representative to the EU, and Mairead McGuinness, European Commissioner for Financial Services. You can watch it here.

Background and next steps

For the first time, a new EU agency’s host city was agreed between the Parliament and Council on an equal footing, following a Court of Justice of the European Union ruling to that effect.

The AMLA regulation is part of a wider package of laws to reform the EU’s framework for combatting money-laundering and terrorist financing. Now that the entire package has been provisionally agreed between Parliament and Council, they need to be formally adopted by both before they can enter into law. Parliament is expected to vote on its final approval in the plenary session of 22-25 April.

Once adopted, the AMLA regulation will apply from July 2025. Before then, the European Commission is responsible for establishing the Authority and for its initial operations.

Further information

 

EU Council background on Frankfurt/Main as host of the EU’s new anti-money laundering authority (AMLA)

Brussels, 22 February 2024

Today, the Council and the European Parliament representatives reached an agreement on the seat of the future European authority for anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing (AMLA).

AMLA will be based in Frankfurt and begin operations mid-2025. It will have over 400 staff members.

The new authority is the centrepiece of the reform of the EU’s anti-money laundering framework. AMLA will have direct and indirect supervisory powers over obliged entities and the power to impose sanctions and measures.

Regarding the location of the authority, the Council and the Parliament worked together to ensure a selection process that is transparent, fair and equitable to all candidates.

The final agreement on the location of AMLA’s seat was made by the co-legislators in an informal inter-institutional meeting at political level, where the Parliament’s and the Council’s representatives voted together at the same time with 27 votes attributed to each co-legislator.

The location of the seat will be included in the AMLA regulation and formally adopted as part of the text.

Background

On 20 July 2021, the Commission presented a package of legislative proposals to strengthen the EU’s rules on anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing (AML/CFT). This package includes a regulation establishing a new EU anti-money laundering authority. The Council and the Parliament found a provisional agreement on the AMLA regulation on 13 December 2023.

In its judgments of 14 July 2022 concerning the seat of the European Medicines Agency and the European Labour Authority, the EU Court of Justice held that the competence to determine the location of the seat of those agencies lies with the EU legislature, which must act to that end in accordance with the procedures laid down by the substantively relevant provisions of the Treaties, in this case the ordinary legislative procedure.

Discussions to agree on a selection procedure for the location of the seat of AMLA, the first agency to be set up after the judgments of 14 July 2022, took place between the Parliament, the Council and the Commission. In June 2023, the co-legislators agreed on joint criteria for the selection of the seat of AMLA. On 28 September, the Commission launched the call for applications, with the deadline of 10 November 2023 for member states to send applications.

Nine member states submitted applications to host AMLA: Belgium (Brussels), Germany (Frankfurt), Ireland (Dublin), Spain (Madrid), France (Paris), Italy (Rome), Latvia (Riga), Lithuania (Vilnius) and Austria (Vienna).

The Commission was tasked to assess the eligibility of the candidacies. The assessments were released in January 2024.

The co-legislators agreed on the principle of organising joint public hearings to allow representatives of member states’ candidacies to present their applications. The co-legislators assessed each application according to the selection criteria included in the call for applications, the information provided by candidates in their application forms, the Commission’s assessment of those forms as well as the outcome of joint public hearings. On the basis of their assessment, the co-legislators held a vote today.

 

EU Commission welcomes the selection of Frankfurt as the seat for the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism

Brussels, 22 February 2024

The Commission welcomes today’s agreement between the European Parliament and the Council that the seat of the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA) should be in Frankfurt. This is the first time that the co-legislators jointly agree on the location of a seat of a decentralised agency. The Parliament and the Council representatives have voted together with the same number of votes in an inter-institutional meeting at the Council premises.

Co-legislators had the choice between applications from nine Member States to host AMLA: Belgium (Brussels), Germany (Frankfurt), Ireland (Dublin), Spain (Madrid), France (Paris), Italy (Rome), Latvia (Riga), Lithuania (Vilnius) and Austria (Vienna). The Commission prepared a neutral and factualassessmentof these applications and all nine applicants presented their application in joint hearings that took place in the European Parliament on 30 January 2024.

The agreement on the location of the seat was the last element needed to conclude the negotiations on the Commission’s ambitious package of four legislative proposals to strengthen the EU’s anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing (AML/CFT) rules. On 18 January 2024, the Parliament and the Council reached a political agreement on the proposals for thefirst AML/CFTregulation andthe sixth AML/CFT directive. Previously, in December 2023, the co-legislators had agreed on theAMLA Regulation. In June 2022, they agreed on a revised Regulation on traceability of funds and crypto-asset transfers. These texts set a single anti-money laundering rulebook and serve as foundation for coordinating the work between the new AMLA and national competent authorities.

Next steps

The location of the seat resulting from the process will be included in the AMLA Regulation and formally adopted by co-legislators as part of the text.

The Commission will also be responsible for ensuring the procedural steps relating to the establishment and initial operations of the Authority until the date on which the Authority becomes operational.

Background

On 20 July 2021, the Commission adopted a legislative package in the area of Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT). This package includes a proposal for a Regulation establishing an Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA Regulation). The provision regarding AMLA’s seat in Article 4 was left blank at that time.

The seats of decentralised agencies have in the past been determined in most cases by Member States, with varying procedures having been followed over time. The judgments of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) of 14 July 2022 clarified that the competence to determine the location of the seat of an EU agency does not lie with the Member States pursuant to Article 341 TFEU, but should be decided by the EU legislature. In this case, this means that the European Parliament and the Council should decide in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure.

AMLA is the first case where this case law is applied. Following an agreement by the co-legislators on the criteria for the seat selection of AMLA and the practicalities surrounding the call for applications, a join call for applications was launched on 28 September 2023.

Member States had until 10 November 2023 to apply. The applications received were made available on awebsitehosted by the Commission. The Commission has carried out a neutral and factual assessment of the applications. The assessment was transmitted to the co-legislators on 10 January 2024 and published on the Commission website.

Joint public hearings of all applicants for hosting AMLA took place on 30 January 2024 in the European Parliament. In order to find agreement on the location of AMLA’s seat, co-legislators voted together in an informal inter-institutional meeting on 22 February 2024 with the same number of votes attributed to each co-legislator. As a result of this joint vote Frankfurt was selected. The location of the seat will be reflected in the legislative text and formally adopted as part of this text in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure.

For More Information

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Today’s political agreement on where the new EU Anti-money laundering Authority (AMLA) will be based concludes the negotiations on the ambitious Anti-Money Laundering legislative package proposed by the Commission in July 2021. For the first time, all Member States will be bound by the same AML rules and AMLA will play a key role in ensuring that those rules are consistently applied. The new authority will monitor risks and threats within and outside the EU, coordinate national supervisors and financial intelligence units, and directly supervise specific financial institutions depending on their risk level. I very much welcome the agreement reached by the co-legislators on an important aspect of the financial services sector. The Commission will now accelerate the preparatory work for the establishment of the Authority, with a view to ensuring it is operational to a significant extent already in 2025.

Mairead McGuinness, Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union

Remarks by Commissioner McGuinness at the press conference on the selection of the AMLA seat

Brussels, 22 February 2024

Thank you, good evening everyone and thanks for staying with us. I’m sure you’re glad we weren’t later.

But it is good news that we have an agreement on the seat of the new Anti-Money Laundering Authority.

And my congratulations to Frankfurt, but also to those who allowed this process happen, the Council and the European Parliament, of course in particular given the Court decision.

So we had a process, we had very strong hearings in public, in the Parliament.

And I think tonight we celebrate and mark the significance of that, but also the start of another journey in relation to tackling money laundering and terrorism financing.

And I think in the morning we have a task force ready to go to set up the framework to allow AMLA begin its job, as has been outlined by the Council.

Because we want and need to have trust in the financial system.

We also want to root out the illegal activities that fund money laundering and allow it to prevail, crimes against society, families, children and women.

So this is an important step for the European Union.

And I do want to register some points around how significant it is.

First of all the institutional revolution – a new Authority, based in Frankfurt.

But it will have two main areas of work.

Supervision: because the Authority will be at the very heart of our system of supervision.

It will help our national supervisory authorities support each other and work together.

And we will have more consistent supervision across the European Union.

The Authority will also undertake some direct supervision itself – of the highest-risk financial sector entities that operate across Member States.

And it will be able to take over the supervision of any entity where circumstances require.

The second point is that the Authority will work closely with the Financial Intelligence Units of the Member States.

And that includes enabling cooperation, exchange of information, joint analyses of suspicious transactions.

Alongside institutional change, we also have regulatory changes.

Really important that we will now have a single set of rules applicable to the private sector across the single market.

So no matter where companies are located across the Union, they will be subject to the same rules.

Now, that does not mean a one-size-fits-all, but rather a risk-based approach.

And this consistency will be reinforced by our institutional changes.

Supervisors and FIUs will work more closely together, facilitated by the new Authority, and implement rules consistently in the single market.

So this is a really broad set of reforms.

New categories of companies will be covered by the rules, such as football clubs, and I think this was something very important for Parliament.

We’re mitigating risks linked to large sums of money, with an EU-wide limit of €10,000 for cash payments.

At the same time, we’re addressing risks posed by crypto and the anonymity it enables.

And there will be a new system to access beneficial ownership registers, which responds to the Court of Justice’s ruling, while maintaining access for civil society and journalists, which of course has been essential to uncover cases of money laundering.

All of these rules will also be able to adapt to risks as they evolve.

We’ve had so many wake-up calls in recent years when it comes to dirty money being washed through the mainstream of the financial system.

So tonight, we’re answering those calls and we’re taking action.

The Commission is committed to that action, to implement our agreement.

I know Parliament and Member States are equally committed.

I’m also counting on the support of the financial sector, Financial Intelligence Units and national supervisors.

As I say, the Commission will now accelerate the work on setting up the Authority.

We shall start this already, hiring staff. And we’re confident that the Authority will be operational – if not fully, then significantly – in 2025.

And lastly, I want to join in the appreciation of the many presidencies who have helped us get to this stage – the Swedish, the Spanish, and now our Belgian hosts this evening.

In particular to the rapporteurs who are here, the shadow rapporteurs, and the teams.

And a shout-out, if I may, for the chair of the ECON committee, Irene Tinagli, who has won widespread applause, and rightly so, for her handling of these negotiations.

It’s been a privilege for me to see this package proposed, and now we have an agreement.

And I hope that in time we will look back and see the significance of putting our house in order by putting in place really strong rules, a new Authority.

And now we just have to implement.

Thank you.

Source – EU Commission 

 

S&Ds hope for a swift start for the much-needed new European anti-money laundering watchdog

The Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament welcome today’s selection of the seat of the European Anti-Money Laundering Authority, known as AMLA. This is the last building block of the new system that will significantly change the rules of the game and help prevent scandals that we have witnessed excessively in the past years. The new agency will play a key role in this new system and should start its work as soon as possible, urge S&Ds.

Pedro Marques, S&D negotiator on AMLA in the committee on economic and monetary affairs (ECON), said:

“Some weeks ago we applauded a ground-breaking deal on a new EU anti-money laundering legislation as good news for citizens and businesses, but bad news for oligarchs and terrorists. Today, we chose the home for the new agency that will play a central role in the new system through its broad and strong supervisory and co-ordinating powers.

“With selecting Frankfurt as AMLA’s host, everything is now set to start organising all practical aspects of its work. The agency is expected to kick off this year. Many scandals over recent years, such as those involving the Danske Bank and Credit Suisse, and the Cyprus Confidential files, show that Europe urgently needs this agency. The S&Ds therefore hope that it will start its work as soon as possible.”

Paul Tang, S&D negotiator on AMLA in the committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs (LIBE), added:

“Today’s decision is historic as, for the first time, the seat of an EU agency was selected in a democratic way, with the European Parliament and EU member states holding joint public hearings and voting together. The European Parliament’s scrutiny has guaranteed a credible outcome.

“This agency will make sure that white collar criminals will no longer be able to launder their money through acquirement of expensive cars, yachts and private planes. It will ensure that it will be much harder for the richest and most powerful people to invest in the EU without proper checks and to circumvent sanctions. It is therefore key that the seat was selected in a transparent manner, in which we based ourselves on common criteria, such as the anti-money laundering track-record.”

Key competences of the EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA):
  • Direct supervision of entities, including crypto-asset service providers;
  • Strong powers to step in in case of supervisory failures and take over supervisory tasks, or initiate breach of union law procedures;
  • Strong role in supporting financial intelligence units and co-ordinating their work, notably by supporting joint analysis;
  • Power to settle disagreements with binding effect between financial supervisors and act as a mediator between non-financial supervisors;
  • Oversight of the non-financial sector, including powers to act in cases of failures by national supervisors.

 

EU-Abgeordnete Simon und Gahler (EVP/CDU) und Ferber (EVP/CSU) zu Frankfurt/Main als AMLA-Sitz

Zur Entscheidung der EU, die neue Anti-Geldwäschebehörde AMLA in Frankfurt am Main anzusiedeln, erklären:

Die hessischen CDU-Europaabgeordneten Sven Simon (CDU) und Michael Gahler (CDU):

„Die europäische Anti-Geldwäschebehörde AMLA findet ihre neue Heimat in Frankfurt. Hessen konnte sich damit als Standort u.a. gegen Paris, Madrid und Rom durchsetzen. Das ist ein gemeinsamer Erfolg hessischer Vertreter auf allen politischen Ebenen und zeigt: Frankfurt ist der führende Finanzplatz der EU.“

Markus Ferber (CSU), wirtschaftspolitischer Sprecher der EVP-Fraktion, der das Verfahren eng begleitet hat:

“Das Bewerbungsverfahren hat gezeigt, dass Frankfurt der ideale Standort für die neue Geldwäschebehörde ist. Gerade die Nähe zum gemeinsamen Aufsichtsmechanismus bei der EZB ist ein unschlagbarer Vorteil. Geldwäsche untergräbt das Vertrauen in den Rechtsstaat und die Integrität des Wirtschafts- und Finanzstandorts. Es ist an der Zeit, dass wir diesen schädlichen Praktiken ein für alle Mal ein Ende setzen.

“Die Vergangenheit hat gezeigt, dass es dazu eine europäische Behörde mit echten Durchgriffsrechten braucht. Die Nähe von Frankfurt zum bei der Europäischen Zentralbank angesiedelten Aufsichtsmechanismus für europäische Großbanken schafft offensichtliche Synergieeffekte. Die meisten Institute, die von der AMLA beaufsichtigt werden, werden auch vom SSM beaufsichtigt. Bankenaufsicht und Geldwäscheaufsicht müssen Hand in Hand gehen, um wirklich schlagkräftigt zu sein. Das geht nirgends so gut wie am Standort Frankfurt. Frankfurt ist ein wichtiger Finanzplatz, gut an andere europäische Metropolen angeboten und bietet einen großen Talentpool – die AMLA wird am Standort Frankfurt exzellente Bedingungen vorfinden.“

Quelle – via email

 

Rewew Europe on the future headquarters of AMLA

Renew Europe welcomes the inter-institutional agreement reached on the future location of the new Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-terrorism financing Authority (AMLA), which concludes that Frankfurt is the seat, following the joint Parliament-Council vote that took place today. This represents a historic process of a paramount importance, as it is the first time that the Council and the Parliament decide jointly on an equal footing on the location of a European agency, after the Judgment by the EU´s Court of Justice of 14 July 2022.

Renew Europe, which has been co-rapporteur on the regulation establishing AMLA’s competences and powers, has ensured a flawless and transparent selection process, based on objective criteria and public hearings, ensuring equal treatment in the assessment of the nine candidate cities at all times. The result sets an exemplary precedent that reinforces the co-decisional role of the Parliament and leaves behind the obscurantist practices behind closed doors historically exercised by the Council for this type of process.

Renew Europe MEP Eva Poptcheva (Ciudadanos, Spain), Vice-Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, ECON co-rapporteur on the regulation for establishing AMLA authority, stated:

“It is a very exciting moment. This joint decision between the Parliament and the Council is a win for democracy; it’s a win for Europeans. It’s been an honour to lead the negotiations from the side of the Parliament for such a crucial Authority”.

Renew Europe MEP Ramona Strugariu (REPER, Romania), LIBE shadow rapporteur on the AML/CFT legislative package, said:

“We fought until the end so that AMLA has a strong seat, fully equipped for such a crucial battle with money laundering and financial crime. This is an institution with a crucial responsibility, with a symbolic place in Europe, which will make European citizens feel safer, their money more protected, their lives more respected. We trust that it will live up to these very high standards. Congratulations and best of luck in achieving this very challenging task!”

Source  – Renew Europe

 

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