Europe establishes a unified AML supervision system

The European Union (EU) is taking a major step towards a unified and centralized anti-money laundering (AML) system. From July 10, 2027, a single set of AML rules will operate in the EU for the first time, as the new EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR), the 6th AML Directive, and the AMLA Regulation come into force.

The AMLR will establish uniform and directly applicable AML requirements across the EU, while the 6th AML Directive will harmonize the definitions of criminal offenses related to money laundering throughout the EU, additionally including cybercrime and environmental crimes. Furthermore, with the entry into force of the new regulatory framework, AMLA—the EU Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism—will begin its operations.

For more than 30 years, the EU AML system was based on directives that each member state transposed into its national legislation. While this approach provided some flexibility, in practice, it created significant differences in the interpretation and application of AML requirements—this became one of the main reasons for implementing the new AML reform. Unlike directives, the AMLR is a regulation, meaning it will be directly applicable in all EU member states without the need for transposition into national law.

AMLA – what is it?

A significant component of the new AML system is AMLA (Anti-Money Laundering Authority)—the new EU-level AML supervisory authority, which began its work in 2025 and is headquartered in Frankfurt. AMLA’s main task will be to ensure the equal application of AML requirements across the EU. The authority will directly supervise high-risk cross-border financial sector participants, while coordinating the supervision of other financial and non-financial sector participants together with national supervisory authorities. Simultaneously, AMLA will develop uniform technical standards and guidelines to ensure the consistent application of requirements in all member states.

AML requirements will become stricter and more detailed

The new AML package provides not only a unified framework but also significantly more detailed customer due diligence requirements. The AMLR reduces the customer due diligence threshold for occasional transactions from EUR 15,000 to EUR 10,000. A limit of EUR 10,000 for cash payments in commercial transactions will be introduced across the EU, and uniform criteria for determining beneficial owners will be applied with a 25% threshold, which the European Commission may lower to 15% for higher-risk sectors.

The new requirements will also affect the non-financial sector

The AMLR will also significantly expand the scope of entities subject to AML regulation. In addition to the financial sector, requirements will apply to crypto-asset service providers, traders of high-value goods, art dealers, crowdfunding service providers, as well as certain companies registered outside the EU that operate in the EU market. Professional football clubs and agents will be subject to the requirements from July 10, 2029.

How customer verification processes will change in practice

The AMLR will affect daily operations, not just internal procedure documents. Companies will need clearer and better traceable evidence of how customers and their beneficial owners are verified. Manual verification of documents will still be permissible in certain cases; however, the new regulation favors electronic identification, which is generally faster, easier to verify, and ensures more consistent results across different markets.

Beneficial ownership checks will require more rigorous justification of ownership structures. Reusing previously verified personal data, for example, through digital identity tools, can help reduce manual labor and lower customer onboarding costs in the long run.

How to prepare

Although the AMLR comes into force in 2027, it is recommended to start preparing now. It is advisable to review customer onboarding and identification processes, identify manual actions or country-specific approaches, evaluate whether existing customer due diligence methods will meet the new requirements, and check beneficial ownership determination processes—ensuring that ownership structures can be justified and documented with sufficient clarity. It is also important to ensure that systems are flexible enough to adapt to additional guidelines that AMLA will publish in the coming years.