The new EU Anti-Money Laundering Package is in place

In January 2024, the European Union took a decisive step in the fight against money laundering: an agreement was reached on the EU-wide Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Package. This package marks a major shift in the regulatory architecture of AML compliance in Europe and serves as a response to the previous challenges and inconsistencies in how AML rules have been implemented across Member States.

Need for Change

Until now, the regulations at the European level were based on EU Anti-Money Laundering Directives, which had to be transposed into national law by each Member State. These processes were often lengthy and led to significant differences in how the directives were implemented across countries. With the new AML package, in addition to a 6th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive, a directly applicable EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation is being introduced, covering key regulatory areas. As a regulation, it will be directly applicable in all Member States in the same way.