New AMLA Chair Bruna Szego Outlines Three-Pillar Strategy to Combat Financial Crime Across EU

In her first public keynote address since taking the helm of the EU’s new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), Chair Bruna Szego unveiled an ambitious overhaul of the bloc’s financial crime framework, centered on a unified, cooperative, and tightly supervised system.

Speaking at the European Anti-Financial Crime Summit 2025 in Dublin, Szego emphasized that AMLA’s core mission is to eliminate fragmentation and vulnerabilities in Europe’s anti-money laundering system, long criticized for uneven enforcement and divergent standards across member states.

“In the past, fragmented rules and oversight and uneven enforcement created cracks in our system, cracks that criminals were quick to exploit,” Szego said. “With AMLA, we [will] bridge those gaps and reinforce cooperation across borders.”

The Chair announced AMLA’s strategy will rest on three key “pillars,” which include ensuring harmonized EU standards for financial firms, fostering closer cooperation between private and public stakeholders, and direct supervision of the EU’s 40 most prominent financial institutions.

Detailing the first priority, Szego explained: “Our mission rests on three key pillars. first, to ensure the completion of the AML single rule book and promote its consistent interpretation and application. By applying the same standards everywhere, we eliminate weak links that can otherwise be exploited within the single market.”

She pointed specifically to Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) as an example of the current inconsistencies in the system. STR thresholds vary across member states, leading to discrepancies in reporting standards. “One of the tasks for AMLA is reaching convergence. But, what do we mean? Starting with good and effective information exchange. [And] common standards for STRS, for analysis, giving more consistent feedback,” she said.

Turning to the second pillar, Szego underscored AMLA’s role in serving as a central hub for collaboration across the EU’s complex financial landscape. “AMLA will act as a hub fostering cooperation between EU institutions, national authorities, FIUs [Financial Intelligence Units] and law enforcement agencies, international bodies and non EU authorities will also be crucial,” she stated.

The agency’s third pillar will see AMLA take on direct supervisory powers over 40 of the EU’s most significant financial firms, beginning in early 2028. These companies, expected to be key players in Europe’s financial ecosystem, will be under stringent scrutiny to ensure AML systems are not only present but operationally effective.

“These entities will be subject to rigorous, consistent oversight to ensure that strong defenses against financial crime are in place, but also effectively working,” Szego said.

Importantly, Szego also highlighted the need to balance regulatory ambitions with economic practicality. “The goal that I think we need to consider is compliance costs,” she said. “[We must] ensure that rules are crafted in a way that they do reach the goals that we all want to reach, but [while] minimizing costs.”

“AMLA… will do impact and cost benefit analysis, and I think those will be quite important to be sure that we get the right risk at the end of the day,” she concluded.

By fLEXI tEAM