AMLA selects banks and firms for direct EU supervision

The Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) is the EU body set up in 2024 to supervise how the financial sector prevents money laundering and terrorist financing. For a small group of high-risk banks and financial institutions active in many countries, it takes over supervision directly from national supervisors (Regulation (EU) 2024/1620 (external site)).

Those institutions are chosen in a selection exercise. The first one starts by 1 July 2027 and leads to direct supervision from 2028 (AMLA (external site)).

Today, each national supervisor checks the anti-money laundering (AML) controls of the institutions in its own country. After selection, a joint supervisory team led by AMLA, with staff from the national supervisors, carries out that work for each selected entity (Regulation (EU) 2024/1620 (external site)).

Eligible entities are credit and financial institutions, or groups, active in at least six Member States including their home state (AMLA webinar (external site)). Among them, an entity qualifies when its residual risk, the risk left after its own controls, is classified as high.

The first round is capped at 40 entities. When more qualify, the regulation selects those operating in the highest number of Member States (Regulation (EU) 2024/1620 (external site)).

For selected entities, AMLA checks compliance with the AMLR (Anti-Money Laundering Regulation) (external site), including the duties on targeted financial sanctions (asset freezes on listed persons). It can impose supervisory measures and fines.

As an example, a group with subsidiaries in eight Member States and a high residual risk score would answer to one joint team instead of eight separate national supervisors (AMLA FAQs (external site)).

The selection covers credit institutions and financial institutions, such as payment institutions, investment firms and crypto-asset service providers, when they operate across borders (AMLA (external site)). The roles most directly concerned:

• AML Analyst: transaction monitoring and suspicion reports of a selected entity are reviewed by the joint supervisory team.
• Sanctions Analyst: screening against targeted financial sanctions falls under AMLA's direct checks.
• Financial Crime Investigations Associate: case files become evidence for inspections run at EU level.
• Compliance Officer: the main supervisory contact moves from the national supervisor to the joint team.
• Regulatory Change Analyst: AMLA data requests, decisions and standards become new inputs to track.

On 12 May 2026, AMLA published a reporting package for national supervisors. They send eligibility data by 15 August 2026, and a provisional list of eligible entities was expected by the end of September 2026 (AMLA (external site)).

The regulation fixes the next steps. The selection starts by 1 July 2027 and ends within six months; the list is then published without undue delay (Regulation (EU) 2024/1620 (external site)).

Direct supervision starts six months after publication of the list. The exact day depends on that publication, so mid-2028 is an expected date, not a confirmed one. A selected entity stays under AMLA for at least three years (Regulation (EU) 2024/1620 (external site)).

Until now, AML supervision in the EU rested with national authorities applying national laws based on directives, the latest being Directive (EU) 2015/849 (external site).

The 2024 package moves part of that work to EU level. It combines a single rulebook in Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, national rules on supervisors in Directive (EU) 2024/1640 (external site), and AMLA itself.