The European Banking Authority (EBA) has proposed new guidelines on the role, tasks and responsibilities of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (hereinafter: “AML/CFT”) compliance officers. These draft guidelines would also include provisions on the wider AML/CFT governance set-up, including at the level of the group.

According to the EBA’s press release, the draft guidelines comprehensively address, for the first time at the level of the EU, the whole AML/CFT governance set-up. If adopted, the guidelines would apply to all financial sector operators that are within the scope of the AML Directive (EU) 2015/849 (hereinafter: “AML Directive”) – especially to the AML/CFT identification obligations (Art. 8 AML Directive) and to the reporting obligations (Art. 32 et seqq. AML Directive). The EBA also launched a public consultationthat runs until 2 November 2021 before finalising the guidelines.