EBA initiates a public consultation on draft guidelines on the role and responsibilities of AML/CFT compliance officers

On 2 August 2021, the European Banking Authority (EBA) launched a public consultation on new guidelines on the role, tasks and responsibilities of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance officers. The guidelines also include provisions on the wider AML/CFT governance set-up, including at the level of the group.

The draft guidelines comprehensively address, for the first time at the level of the EU, the whole AML/CFT governance set-up. They set clear expectations of the role, tasks and responsibilities of the AML/CFT compliance officer and the management body and how they interact, including at group level. AML/CFT compliance officers need to have a sufficient level of seniority, which entails the powers to propose, on their own initiative, all necessary or appropriate measures to ensure the compliance and effectiveness of the internal AML/CFT measures to the management body in its supervisory and management function.

The provisions set out in these guidelines should be applied in a manner that is effective and proportionate to the financial sector operator’s type, size, internal organisation, the nature, scope and complexity of its activities, and the ML/TF risks to which the financial sector operator is exposed.

Through these guidelines, the EBA aims to achieve a common understanding, by competent authorities and financial sector operators, of financial sector operators’ AML/CFT governance arrangements. Once adopted, they will apply to all financial sector operators that are within the scope of the AML Directive.

This consultation runs until 2 November 2021.

The EBA’s press release can be found here.

The consultation paper on draft guidelines can be found here.