EBA AML/CFT Newsletter

In March, following an extensive public consultation, we published our final Risk Factors Guidelines. These Guidelines were first issued in 2017 and have since become central to financial institutions’ risk-based approaches to AML/CFT. We updated them to reflect changes in the EU legal framework, to address new ML/TF risks that have emerged since the previous version, and to clarify regulatory expectations where our findings from, for example, the Opinion on ML/TF risks and our implementation reviews suggested that this was necessary to achieve more robust and consistent outcomes across the EU.

The revised Guidelines will enter into force this summer, once they have been translated into all official EU languages.

In March, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) issued a joint warning reminding consumers that the majority of crypto-assets remain unregulated. Even though some virtual asset service providers now fall within the scope of national AML/CFT regimes and the legislative proposal for an EU Regulation in Markets for Crypto Assets (MiCA) has now been published, the negotiations between EU legislators are ongoing and the Regulation does not yet apply. This is why consumers buying or holding crypto assets do not yet benefit from the guarantees and safeguards associated with regulated financial services.

Staff from competent authorities can access recordings from the day on the EBA’s Learning Hub.

We are currently carrying out a Peer Review under Article 30 of our Founding Regulation of the ESAs’ Joint Guidelines on the prudential assessment of the acquisitions and increases of qualifying holdings in the financial sector. We are assessing how competent authorities comply with specific aspects of the joint guidelines, and the extent to which their current practices are effective. Our review includes the fifth assessment criterion, which relates to ML/TF risks that may arise from the proposed acquisition of the qualifying holdings. We are paying particular attention to the way competent authorities assess the origin and legitimacy of the funds the applicant proposes to use to acquire the holdings. 

We will conclude our review in July 2021 and publish our findings later this year.

The EBA will hold a virtual public hearing on the draft Guidelines on 22 April 2021 from 14:00 to 16:00 Paris time. Registration is open on our website.

In March, we launched a public consultation on a common assessment methodology for granting authorisation as a credit institution under the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD). The draft Guidelines set out how supervisors should consider ML/TF risk when assessing applications for authorisation and emphasise the importance of cooperation between prudential and AML/CFT supervisors, and between supervisors and other public bodies in this context.

The consultation is open until 10 June 2021.

The EBA will hold a virtual public hearing on the draft Guidelines on 22 April 2021 from 10:00 to 12:00 Paris time. Registration is open on our website.

In September 2020, the European Commission published its Digital Finance Strategy (DFS) accompanied by legislative proposals for markets in crypto-assets (MiCA) and digital operational resilience (DORA). The DFS sets out significant new roles for EBA including in relation to digital identities, RegTech and SupTech and ensuring the ongoing suitability of the EU’s regulatory and supervisory framework.

In this context, in February 2021, the Commission issued a call for advice to the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) in relation to technology-enabled structural change in the financial sector, new mixed activity groups and additional mandates for the EBA on non-bank lending and deposit guarantee schemes. It asked the ESAs to pay particular attention to regulatory and supervisory challenges in this field, including in relation to AML/CFT.

The ESAs will report to the EC in accordance with the timelines set out in the call for advice.