AMLA Publishes First Conference Recap as EU Financial Crime Authority Moves Toward Direct Supervision

The EU’s new Anti-Money Laundering Authority has published a detailed recap of its first major conference, giving fresh insight into how Europe’s financial crime framework is being reshaped ahead of AMLA’s move into direct supervision.

The conference itself took place on 9 June 2026 at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt am Main, but AMLA’s official recap was published on 23 June 2026. That makes the update relevant now, not because the event happened yesterday, but because AMLA has now set out the main messages, priorities and policy direction emerging from its first major public gathering.

The event was held under the theme “Building Trust, Enhancing Integrity: A New Chapter in the EU’s Fight Against Financial Crime”. It brought together supervisors, financial intelligence units, private sector representatives, law enforcement, academics, EU bodies and international institutions. More than 360 guests attended from all 27 EU Member States and beyond, while hundreds more followed online.

The timing is important. AMLA is no longer only a legislative idea or a future institution. It is now moving through the build-up phase before becoming fully operational in 2028. Under the EU’s new AML framework, AMLA is expected to select 40 obliged entities for direct supervision during 2027, with direct supervision starting in 2028. This means that the coming months are critical for banks, financial institutions and other high-risk cross-border entities that may fall within AMLA’s supervisory perimeter.

AMLA has already begun the technical preparatory work for that process. In May 2026, the Authority published a reporting package for the identification of provisionally eligible obliged entities. This package is intended to help national supervisors collect the information needed to determine which firms may qualify for selection. The data collection process is scheduled to feed into the 2027 selection cycle, when AMLA will identify the entities that will come under its direct supervision.

This is where the conference recap becomes more than a simple event summary. It gives a clear indication of the Authority’s direction of travel: stronger supervisory convergence, better financial intelligence, closer cooperation between national authorities and a more technology-aware approach to financial crime risks.

In her opening address, AMLA Chair Bruna Szego linked the fight against money laundering with the integrity of the EU economy, sanctions enforcement and Europe’s broader economic sovereignty. This framing is significant. AML is no longer being presented as a narrow compliance matter for banks and regulated firms. It is being treated as a strategic issue affecting the security, competitiveness and resilience of the European financial system.

European Commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque also stressed AMLA’s central role in the EU’s new AML framework. Her message was that legislation alone is not enough. The real test will be implementation. This is a key point because the EU has spent years strengthening its AML legislation, but enforcement and supervision have remained uneven between Member States. AMLA is intended to address exactly that problem by reducing fragmentation and creating more consistent standards across the internal market.

That fragmentation has long been one of Europe’s weaknesses in the fight against financial crime. Criminal networks do not operate according to national supervisory boundaries. They use cross-border corporate structures, professional intermediaries, payment channels, crypto-assets and legitimate businesses to move and disguise illicit funds. A purely national approach can leave gaps, especially where the same financial group operates across several Member States or where money flows quickly between different jurisdictions.

This is why AMLA’s role is so important. The Authority will not replace all national AML supervisors, but it will coordinate them, set common expectations and directly supervise a selected group of high-risk financial institutions. Its work is expected to influence not only the 40 directly supervised entities, but also the wider supervisory culture across the EU.

The first panel of the conference focused on financial intelligence and transnational organised crime. The discussion covered the entire AML chain: suspicious activity reporting by the private sector, analysis by financial intelligence units, information exchange between authorities and the use of financial intelligence by law enforcement and prosecutors. The underlying message was that reporting volume alone is not enough. Authorities need high-value, timely and actionable intelligence.

This is a practical issue for obliged entities. Poor-quality reporting can overwhelm FIUs and make investigations harder, while well-targeted suspicious activity reports can help identify hidden networks, beneficial ownership links, sanctions evasion and organised criminal activity. AMLA’s future work is therefore likely to place greater emphasis on the quality of reporting, not only the number of reports filed.

The second panel dealt with supervision and cooperation. This is one of AMLA’s core challenges. Cross-border firms have historically faced different supervisory expectations depending on the Member State involved. That creates uncertainty for legitimate businesses and opportunities for criminals. AMLA’s task will be to promote common methodologies, clearer supervisory standards and a more consistent risk-based approach.

For financial institutions operating in multiple EU countries, this could eventually bring more predictability. However, it may also raise the level of scrutiny. Firms that were previously comfortable dealing with different national interpretations may now face a more harmonised and demanding European standard.

The third panel focused on technology and digital financial crime. This included crypto-assets, artificial intelligence, blockchain analytics, AI-supported detection and cross-border data sharing. The inclusion of these topics reflects the reality that financial crime is becoming increasingly digital. Criminals can exploit crypto-assets, online payment systems, digital platforms, shell companies and artificial intelligence tools, while supervisors and firms must also use technology to detect suspicious behaviour more effectively.

Reuters has also reported that AMLA’s 2026–2028 planning identifies crypto-assets and novel payment channels as emerging financial crime risks. However, AMLA has indicated that it will follow the evidence when deciding where the greatest risks lie. This is important because while crypto can create serious money laundering risks, traditional financial channels remain central to many forms of illicit finance.

AMLA Vice-Chair Juan Manuel Vega Serrano closed the conference by highlighting three strategic lines of action: completing a unified legal framework, preparing for direct supervision of a core group of financial institutions and strengthening mechanisms for timely and actionable financial intelligence. This reflects the Authority’s broader mission: not just to create another EU agency, but to make Europe’s AML system more operational, more consistent and more effective.

The institutional timeline shows how quickly this is now moving. AMLA was legally established in June 2024, began building its Frankfurt operations in 2025 and is ramping up during 2026. By the end of 2027, its staff is expected to reach around 430, and direct supervision is expected to begin during 2028. That timeline leaves little room for firms to treat AMLA as a distant future concern.

For banks and other financial institutions, the practical implications are already becoming clearer. Firms with significant cross-border activity, complex structures, exposure to high-risk sectors or operations in several Member States should expect more detailed supervisory data requests, more harmonised risk assessment expectations and greater scrutiny of group-wide AML governance.

The impact will also extend beyond the financial sector. AMLA’s conference highlighted the role of non-financial businesses and professional services in laundering illicit funds. Lawyers, accountants, trust and company service providers, real estate professionals and other gatekeepers are increasingly viewed as part of the broader financial crime ecosystem. Even where AMLA does not directly supervise them, its standards and guidance may influence national supervisory approaches.

The publication of AMLA’s conference recap therefore matters because it shows how the new Authority wants to position itself before direct supervision begins. The focus is not only on rules, but on implementation, intelligence, technology, supervisory convergence and cooperation.

Europe’s AML framework is entering a new phase. The creation of AMLA was already a major institutional change. The next test is whether it can convert that mandate into practical results: better intelligence, stronger supervision, fewer regulatory gaps and a more credible EU-wide response to money laundering and terrorist financing.

By fLEXI tEAM