The EU Anti Money Laundering Authority

A Digital Transformation

Abstract

The EU has conferred legislative powers on a new regulatory body, the Anti Money Laundering Authority (AMLA). Companies in the EU are required by anti-money laundering (AML) law, to report suspicious transactions to Central Banks and law enforcement Financial Intelligence Units (FIU’s) who centralise those reports, and AMLA will have oversight.

The purpose of AMLA is to counteract the gaps noted by the EU relating to suspicious transaction reporting. Information sharing, collaboration, and insights into the outcomes from millions of suspicious transaction reports are lacking. There is a lack of connectivity between FIU’s and regulators.

The research in this report is a mix of methodologies such as literature review, investigation of existing public sector infrastructure and qualitative research by way of interviews of experts. This report discusses the above and makes recommendations on this rare opportunity for a digital transformation of a regulatory body which has just begun to operate.