The location of the new EU authority is revealed

On 22 February 2024, 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. Among nine member states, Frankfurt has been selected as the organization's headquarters by the co-legislators.

In July 2021, the European Commission submitted a package of legislative proposals aimed at strengthening the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing within the EU. The purpose of strengthening the EU’s anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regulatory framework was to contribute to enhancing the economy as well as ensuring a higher level of protection for EU citizens.

This package includes the regulation establishing a new EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), which is the centre of the reform. The aim of AMLA is to create an integrated mechanism in collaboration with the national supervisory authorities of the Member States to ensure that the obliged entities fulfil their obligations. The AMLA’s activities will also include the direct supervision of the riskiest credit and financial institutions in the EU, coordination of financial intelligence units, playing a supportive role for the non-financial sector, and the authority to impose pecuniary sanctions in cases of serious breaches. 

In the process of selecting the location, the co-legislators agreed that the chosen location must enable the authority to fully execute its tasks and powers. This includes the recruitment of highly qualified and specialized staff, and the availability of appropriate training opportunities for anti-money laundering. Now that the co-legislators made the decision, the Frankfurt based AMLA begins to operate in mid-2025 with a staff of more than 400 individuals to supervise directly and indirectly in its own competence, furthermore, to sanction, enforce powers over obligated service providers and to monitor the implementation of the new regulation on combating money laundering and terrorist financing.