The new AML6 package, which takes effect in July 2027, marks the next major milestone in European anti-financial crime regulation. The package is highly ambitious in scope, simultaneously rearchitecting the supervisory infrastructure, increasing transparency, expanding the reach of the rulebook, and harmonising the procedural detail that obliged entities must follow. There is a great deal going on, and subject persons need to start preparing.

The AML6 framework will no longer rest on a single standalone directive. The legislation is instead spread across four instruments: a directive, a regulation on fund transfers, a far-reaching AML regulation, and a regulation establishing a European Anti-Money Laundering Authority ("AMLA"). The package is supported by a host of regulatory technical standards, some still in draft or under consultation.

So far it is the creation of AMLA that has attracted the most attention. AMLA is one of a handful of EU level bodies with executive power. Its operating model is fashioned on that of the ECB, with AMLA acting as a sort of "supervisor of supervisors" in a hub-and-spoke arrangement with the FIAU equivalents across Member States. AMLA will only directly supervise a limited number of obliged entities, but its powers will be wide-ranging.

Among other things, it will set the anti-financial crime agenda across the EU, drive convergence of supervisory practices, and settle differences in interpretation. Perhaps its most dramatic power is that of "step-in," the ability to replace a domestic supervisor in its supervision of a particular obliged entity. So while most obliged entities will not be directly supervised by AMLA, they will still feel its impact through the influence it exercises by holding domestic supervisors to account and setting the overall agenda.

But the AML6 package does not limit itself to the high-level design of the European supervisory architecture. It also brings changes that will have a direct operational impact on obliged entities and their AML/CFT compliance programmes.

Daniella Mizzi, Speaker

First, the package expands the list of in-scope activities. Newly captured entities include investment migration operators, traders in high-value goods, and professional football clubs and their agents. These entities will need to get to grips with a rulebook that is now mature and complex, and should start preparing immediately

The package also brings various changes affecting existing obliged entities. Some relate to governance, chief among them the introduction of a new function called the "compliance manager," tasked with high-level oversight of the obliged entity's AML/CFT compliance framework. This function will sit alongside the existing MLRO role, which has, somewhat confusingly, been rebranded as the "compliance officer" while retaining broadly similar responsibilities.

Other changes relate to the granular procedures obliged entities must follow. Worth highlighting are the significant changes to the scope and definition of beneficial ownership. In addition to reducing the applicable threshold from "more than 25%" to "25 per cent or more," AML6 extensively articulates the ways in which a natural person can be deemed a beneficial owner through "control by other means." This includes spousal and other family relationships, and other forms of acting in concert. The cumulative effect is that existing obliged entities will need to re-evaluate their customer base to ensure that all beneficial owners are correctly identified under the new rules.

Another important change is that targeted financial sanctions compliance is now formally embedded within the AML/CFT regime. Obliged entities' internal policies, procedures and controls must expressly address the implementation of sanctions, and the compliance officer and compliance manager are directly accountable for it. In practical terms, sanctions screening, monitoring and breach reporting can no longer be treated as a parallel workstream but must be integrated into the AML/CFT programme.

These are just some of the headlines. The AML6 package is a deep and broad set of documents that demand close inspection. Given the weight of supervisory scrutiny and the oversight of AMLA, obliged entities should start engaging with the issues sooner rather than later, to allow for timely adjustments and enhancements.

If you want to learn more about how to get your organisation ready for AML6, Shoulder Compliance is organising "Getting Ready for AML6" on the 13th of May, 09:00 at the Chaplain's Hall, Villa Bighi, Kalkara, featuring speakers from the FIAU, the Sanctions Monitoring.

For more information, visit the website here and the LinkedIn page. 

Tickets available here.