AML Authority (AMLA): How the EU’s New Watchdog Will Reshape Supervision

The European Union (EU) is preparing to launch something that could fundamentally reshape the way financial crime supervision works across the bloc. The Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), due to begin operating in 2026, represents one of the most ambitious steps yet towards harmonising AML/CFT oversight across Europe.

Although AMLA is still in the planning stages, its design tells us a great deal about the future of supervision — and about how compliance teams will need to adapt. For the first time, a central EU authority will be equipped not just to coordinate policy, but to exercise direct supervisory power over high-risk institutions, and to drive consistency across all 27 member states.

Why AMLA is Needed

At present, AML supervision in the EU is fragmented. Each member state has its own competent authority or Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), with differing priorities, capacities, and resources. This fragmentation has often led to slow, inconsistent supervision, particularly in complex cross-border cases.

Criminals have been quick to exploit these gaps, moving funds through multiple jurisdictions, each with slightly different rules and enforcement intensity. A scandal in one member state could expose weaknesses in another, while regulatory “arbitrage” allowed bad actors to exploit uneven standards.

AMLA has been designed as the EU’s answer to these problems: a central authority with genuine supervisory power and a mandate to strengthen consistency, coordination, and deterrence.

Direct Supervision of High-Risk Firms

One of AMLA’s most significant innovations is its power to directly supervise a set of high-risk financial institutions. These are expected to be large, cross-border groups operating in multiple member states and considered particularly exposed to money laundering and terrorist financing risks.

For these firms, AMLA will not just be a distant body issuing EU-level guidance; it will be their primary supervisor. This marks a profound shift. Institutions accustomed to dealing with a single national regulator will now answer directly to Brussels. Supervision will likely be more intrusive, more consistent, and more demanding in terms of governance and controls.

Coordinating National Supervisors

For the majority of institutions, AMLA will work alongside national supervisors rather than replacing them. Its role will include:

• Setting EU-wide supervisory standards, reducing the divergence currently seen between states.

• Coordinating cross-border enforcement actions, ensuring investigations are faster and more consistent.

• Acting as an intelligence hub, enabling FIUs to share and access information across borders in near real time.

This approach is intended to deliver the best of both worlds: the efficiency of centralisation with the practicality of local knowledge.

The Cultural Shift in Enforcement

Beyond structural changes, AMLA signals a cultural shift. For years, the EU has faced criticism that some member states’ AML supervision was too slow, too lenient, or too under-resourced to deter financial crime.

AMLA is being positioned as a stronger, better-equipped watchdog: one with the authority to step in when national supervision falls short. Compliance teams should expect more assertive inspections, higher expectations for governance, and shorter remediation deadlines than in the past.

Faster and Smarter Cross-Border Investigations

Cross-border investigations have historically been cumbersome, often taking months as authorities coordinated across multiple jurisdictions. AMLA aims to become a single point of contact, speeding up intelligence-sharing and enabling more robust, coordinated enforcement.

For firms, this means investigations may move at a faster pace, with requests for broader and more detailed datasets than before. Delays in producing information that once might have been tolerated could quickly become regulatory breaches under AMLA’s watch.

Technology and Data Ambitions

AMLA is expected to invest heavily in analytics platforms capable of processing data at a scale no single national supervisor could achieve. By pooling transaction reports, beneficial ownership records, and suspicious activity reports from across the EU, the authority could uncover cross-border patterns of activity invisible at the national level.

This has two implications:

1. Typologies of financial crime may become more sophisticated and predictive, allowing earlier intervention.

2. Institutions may face new expectations for data accuracy, completeness, and timeliness, as poor-quality reporting could compromise central analysis.

In practice, this means data quality will become a strategic compliance priority rather than a back-office issue.

Practical Implications for Compliance Teams

So what does this mean for institutions preparing for AMLA’s arrival? Several themes stand out:

• Higher Standards Across Borders – Programmes will need to align with AMLA’s benchmarks, which are likely to represent the strictest interpretation of best practice. For cross-border groups, this could mean a step change in harmonising policies, procedures, and training.

• Data Quality as a Regulatory Expectation – Inconsistent formats, missing fields, or delayed submissions will no longer be a local irritation; they could be escalated to the EU level. Firms should assess their data readiness now.

• Integration of Supervision and Intelligence – With AMLA acting as both a standard-setter and intelligence hub, there will be a closer loop between risk signals and supervisory action. If analytics highlight weaknesses in your controls, scrutiny may follow quickly.

• Governance and Accountability – Stronger emphasis on board-level oversight, clear accountability structures, and well-documented risk assessments will become vital to withstand AMLA’s more assertive approach.

A Global Trend Towards Centralisation

The EU’s creation of AMLA reflects a wider global trend towards centralised, intelligence-driven financial crime supervision. In the U.S., FinCEN is enhancing its role with the Beneficial Ownership Information Registry. In Asia, Singapore’s MAS and Hong Kong’s HKMA are promoting data-led, cross-border intelligence sharing. Globally, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) continues to push for greater coordination and consistency in standards.

For institutions, the message is clear: the direction of travel is towards unified, high-level standards and cross-border collaboration. The ability to adapt quickly to this increasingly-integrated regulatory environment will become a competitive advantage.

Preparing for AMLA: Steps to Take Now

Although AMLA will not be fully operational until 2026, the groundwork for compliance should begin today. Firms should:

• Review their AML programmes across EU jurisdictions and benchmark against the highest standards already in place.

• Invest in data quality initiatives, ensuring reports are accurate, consistent, and complete.

• Strengthen governance structures and accountability, particularly at senior management and board levels.

• Build relationships with regulators and FIUs that will soon be interacting with AMLA.

• Train teams to adapt to more intrusive, faster-paced supervision and cross-border enforcement.
  
  

By acting early, firms can smooth the transition and demonstrate to regulators that they take changes seriously.

Conclusion: A Smaller Margin for Error

The launch of AMLA represents more than another regulatory reform. It marks a structural and cultural transformation in how financial crime supervision is conducted across Europe.

Once AMLA is in place, the margin for error will be smaller, with expectations higher, and enforcement faster. Institutions that prepare now — by aligning policies, enhancing data, and embedding strong governance — will be best positioned to thrive in this new era of compliance.