The EU’s new Anti-Money Laundering Authority – ALG FAQ

The EU’s Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) became operational today, 1 July 2025. Although its full set of legal powers will only be in force in two years’ time, from 1 July 2027, it is clear from formal and informal announcements that AMLA’s influence will be felt well before that date.

AMLA was established in 2024 under the European Commission’s anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) package. It is an EU regulatory authority which will co-ordinate all EU national AML/CFT supervisory authorities, with a view to integrating and improving the effectiveness and consistency of AML/CFT supervision and enforcement across EU financial and non-financial sectors. AMLA will also directly supervise selected obliged entities with full enforcement powers, support the work of financial intelligence units (FIUs) and manage a central AML/CFT database. AMLA will represent a significant change to the supervision of AML/CFT compliance, especially for those financial services firms who will be subject to its direct supervision.

We have prepared an FAQ for financial services legal and compliance professionals to help with an assessment of AMLA’s impact. The FAQ covers:

• AMLA’s structure and interaction with other regulators
• the scope of AMLA’s supervisory powers
• the process AMLA will use to assessing and select obliged entities and groups for direct supervision
• an overview of AMLA’s other functions

Key timelines include:

• 1 July 2025: AMLA has started operating and begun most of its non-supervisory activities.
• By 1 July 2027: AMLA is expected to commence the first process to select 40 obliged entities for direct supervision (selection must be concluded within six months of the date of commencement). We understand that AMLA has already begun initial scoping work for identifying selected obliged entities given the short formal selection window that it has between 1 July 2027 and the end of 2027.
• By the end of 2027: AMLA is expected to have selected at least 40 obliged entities for direct supervision (it must publish a list of the selected obliged entities without undue delay upon completion of the selection process).

Date published: 1 July 2025