site.btaNew Anti-Money Laundering Authority Will Launch in 2027 - MEP Emil Radev

The new European Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) will exercise direct oversight of 40 of the largest financial entities operating in more than seven member states, Emil Radev, Bulgarian MEP from the EPP/GERB group, said in the BTA podcast “EULexBG.” The podcast, supported by the European Parliament, discusses the implementation of European legislation in Bulgaria with Bulgarian MEPs.

The new centralized EU authority for combating financial fraud, based in Frankfurt, will also carry out indirect supervision over institutions and the non-financial sector where there is evidence of money laundering attempts, Radev added. He is the rapporteur for the regulation establishing AMLA.

According to Radev, this new authority, which will reach full operational capacity in 2027, will involve the financial intelligence units of all member states. He noted that this will be a turning point, as until now each member state has applied its own legislation and even the EU money-laundering directives in its own way, and supervision has not always produced the desired results.

“We have cases where, for example, a subject is caught laundering money in Germany, but the same measures are not applied in Latvia or Cyprus, and these gaps in the system have been exploited by financial institutions for less effective control over money laundering,” Radev commented.

The creation of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority, which will strengthen coordination in the pursuit of illicit funds, is part of the latest EU legislative package against money laundering, adopted in May 2024. At present, the new legislative package is being gradually transposed into the legal frameworks of the member states.

The single European package against money laundering also applies to new entities, such as most of the crypto-asset sector, luxury goods dealers, football clubs, and football agents, the Bulgarian MEP added. Since the beginning of his career in Brussels, he has been appointed as the permanent rapporteur on files concerning anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing.

The regulation introduces stricter requirements for identifying the ultimate owners of companies, and it also limits cash payments at the EU level to EUR 10,000.

Under the new legislation, registers in all member states will be interconnected, making it possible to see from anywhere who the ultimate owner of a given company or trust is, Emil Radev added.

Regarding the implementation of EU anti-money laundering legislation in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian MEP noted that the country suffered a serious reputational setback two years ago when it was included on the “grey list” of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). According to him, at that time there had been a relapse in the fight against illicit capital in Bulgaria. Currently, Bulgaria has updated legislation, and expectations are that by the middle of this year the country will be removed from the grey list, Radev said.

“We hope is that we will have a government that will continue with a consistent policy against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, and will deliver concrete results even after the elections, so that we are not singled out as the only European country in the EU on the grey list,” Emil Radev further said.

The full interview with MEP Emil Radev for the BTA podcast “EULexBG,” in which he also discusses other areas of his work in Brussels, such as legislation on the digital euro, the EU Regulation on the welfare of dogs and cats, and shares his passion for traveling and practicing extreme sports, can be viewed on the BTA channel on YouTube.