The European Union has doled out the new Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA) to Frankfurt, Germany. According to the EU, nine member states were in the running for the new bureaucracy. The competing cities included; Belgium (Brussels), Germany (Frankfurt), Ireland (Dublin), Spain (Madrid), France (Paris), Italy (Rome), Latvia (Riga), Lithuania (Vilnius) and Austria (Vienna). The deadline to apply to host the agency was November 10, 12023. Frankfurt is probably the top financial center in continental Europe.
In 2021, the EU adopted a legislative package pertaining to Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), which included the establishment of a new agency.
Mairead McGuinness, Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, said that for the first time EU members would be bound by the same AML/CFT rules.
“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.”
The new agency was spurred in part due to the rise of new technologies like digital assets or crypto. The incorporation of the FATF-crafted “travel rule,” where buyers and sellers of crypto must have their information saved and maintained on these transactions, should stymie abuse of digital assets.