AMLA Frankfurt

AMLA was established by Regulation (EU) 2024/1620, which sets out its tasks, its governance and its powers. The seat decision came separately: in a joint vote on 22 February 2024, the European Parliament and the Council chose Frankfurt from nine candidate cities, with Frankfurt winning a majority in the first round.

The authority is in the MesseTurm. AMLA signed the lease for its office space there, taking the upper floors at Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage 49, after having been hosted in the building since the start of the year. AMLA sits roughly two kilometers from the European Central Bank and in the same city as EIOPA.

AMLA will directly supervise selected banks under the new EU framework. Under Regulation (EU) 2024/1620 AMLA will select a group of obliged entities operating across borders with the highest risk profiles and supervise them itself, with joint supervisory teams in which national supervisors take part. The regulation caps the first selection at 40 entities.

the selection process begins in 2027 and direct supervision of the selected entities starts in 2028. An institution in scope will deal with a team in Frankfurt on its AML supervision while BaFin continues to supervise it for everything else, which is the operating model significant banks already know from European Central Bank banking supervision.

For everyone not selected, AMLA works through the national supervisor. The indirect supervisory role of AMLA covers assessing BaFin in AML supervision, running peer reviews, issuing guidelines and technical standards, and, in defined circumstances, requesting that a national supervisor act, including a transfer of supervision in cases of serious failure.

The expectations BaFin applies to German institutions will increasingly follow EU-wide AMLA guidelines, replacing national guidance. BaFin stays the point of contact, the reporting routes stay German, and the content converges. AML in Germany covers the national frame as it stands.

Regulation (EU) 2024/1620 includes crypto-asset service providers among the entities AMLA can select, with criteria reflecting cross-border activity and risk, and the AMLR makes them obliged entities with the full set of due diligence duties.

For a provider licensed under MiCA this means two supervisory relationships on different subjects: BaFin for the crypto-asset service provider license and the market conduct rules, and the AML regime on top, with AMLA in the picture where the provider is large and cross-border. AML in crypto assets covers the sector-specific duties.

The third task of AMLA is to support the Financial Intelligence Units. The regulation gives it a coordination and support mechanism for the FIUs: joint analyses of cross-border cases, the hosting and management of FIU.net as the communication system between them, and standards for how they share information.

This is the part that addresses the structural weakness the FATF kept finding in Europe, where a suspicious activity report filed in one member state about a cross-border scheme reached an FIU with no straightforward route to the others. For an institution filing reports, the output is a supervisor with a wider view of what its reports contribute to.

Germany's Financial Intelligence Unit is a directorate of the General Customs Directorate (Generalzolldirektion). The FIU receives and analyzes suspicious transaction reports under German money-laundering law.

Obliged entities continue to submit suspicious transaction reports to the German FIU under section 43 GwG. AMLA supports cooperation and joint analyses among national Financial Intelligence Units but does not replace the German FIU as the national recipient of those reports.

Frankfurt gains an EU authority with a supervisory mandate, next to the European Central Bank and EIOPA, which makes it the city where European financial supervision for banking, insurance and anti-money laundering is physically located. The staff build-up runs over several years as the selection and supervision phases approach.

People drafting EU-wide AML requirements and those applying them in German institutions work in the same city, which allows more frequent meetings. Finanzplatz Frankfurt am Main and compliance in Frankfurt cover the wider setting.

AMLA is the EU Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism, established by Regulation (EU) 2024/1620 with its seat in Frankfurt. AMLA has three functions: direct supervision of a selected group of high-risk cross-border obliged entities, indirect supervision through the national supervisors including guidelines and peer reviews, and a support and coordination mechanism for the Financial Intelligence Units.

AMLA is in the MesseTurm at Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage 49, where the authority occupies the upper floors under a lease it signed after being hosted in the building from the start of the year. The location puts it in the Messe district, close to the European Central Bank and in the same city as EIOPA, the European insurance supervisor.

The selection of the entities to be supervised directly begins in 2027, and direct supervision of the selected entities starts in 2028. Up to 40 obliged entities are to be selected in the first round, chosen for cross-border activity and risk profile. Until then, and afterward for everyone not selected, AML supervision of a German institution stays with BaFin.

For the large majority of German obliged entities BaFin remains the AML supervisor and the addressee of the reporting duties. AMLA supervises the selected entities directly and otherwise works through BaFin, setting expectations and reviewing how they are applied. Even for a selected entity BaFin continues as the prudential and conduct supervisor; only the AML supervision moves.