EU introduces strict money laundering laws – what awaits us now!

EU introduces strict money laundering laws – what awaits us now!

On July 1, 2025, the new European anti-money laundering authority AMLA (Anti-Money Laundering Authority) will start operations, thereby sending the first signal for the comprehensive implementation of the EU money laundering package. Loud Haufe This reform leads to a fundamental departure from national laws, which are largely abolished and replaced by a directly applicable EU regulation. The heart of this initiative is the EU Money Laundering Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/1624), which puts the financial system in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

The new laws promise to significantly increase the due diligence obligations for companies affected by the regulations. Above all, banks, real estate agents and other financial service providers will in future have to report suspicious activities directly to the central reporting offices (Financial Intelligence Units, FIUs). The prominent innovations also include the introduction of a central account and real estate register, which will record not only regular accounts, but also crypto accounts. Reported on this the European Parliament.

Extended commitments and measures

The new regulation significantly expands the circle of those obliged to prevent money laundering. In addition to banks and asset managers, football clubs and crypto asset service providers are now also held accountable. The amount of cash payments is limited to 10,000 euros, while transactions over 3,000 euros require identification. In addition, all nationalities of a customer must be recorded and due diligence requirements must be strengthened in the event of increased risk.

Another important innovation concerns the identification of beneficial owners. In the future, companies and institutions will have to comply with a threshold of 25% when it comes to beneficial ownership. This could even be reduced to 15% in high-risk scenarios. At a time when the requirements for compliance structures are becoming increasingly strict, affected companies must ensure that their documentation processes are updated and that reporting bodies comply with them in a timely manner. From July 10, 2025, access to beneficial ownership data will also be open to persons with “legitimate interests”, which is important not only for media professionals but also for authorities.

The reconstruction of the AMLA

The AMLA will be based in Frankfurt am Main and will act as the central supervisory authority. Their tasks are wide-ranging: from monitoring risky financial companies to analyzing and coordinating reports to direct supervision of companies with high risk profiles. Here too, the new regulatory environment has achieved a lot. In addition to being given the right to impose fines for violations, the authority is also expected to report annually on its activities to the European Parliament and the Council, such as eur-lex informed.

In summary, this means a far-reaching reform that not only serves to stabilize the EU's financial system, but also to offer citizens more transparency and security. As of July 10, 2027, most changes must already be implemented in company processes to meet requirements.