The European Union’s new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) has published the findings from its first EU-wide Roadshow, offering one of the clearest insights yet into how regulators, supervisors, Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), and financial institutions view the future of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) across Europe. Not only that, but the Report also highlights the need for AMLA, as, although it is a relatively new framework, the findings showcase exactly why a more harmonised approached via AMLA is required in the AML field.
The Report conducted its findings throughout 2025 across all 27 Member States and highlighted the growing concern over the increasing complexity of financial crime and the pressure this is placing on both regulators and the private sector. Among the most frequently raised issues were:
- Sanctions compliance
- Fraud
- Crypto-assets
- Instant payments, and
- The growing sophistication of cross-border criminal networks.
Sanctions emerged as a particularly important area of focus. Participants noted that geopolitical developments and the rapid expansion of EU sanctions regimes have significantly increased operational and compliance pressures for firms. Stakeholders pointed to challenges around inconsistent implementation across Member States, varying supervisory expectations, and difficulties in interpreting complex sanctions obligations in real time. Several participants also highlighted the growing overlap between AML/CFT controls and sanctions screening, particularly in relation to transaction monitoring, beneficial ownership transparency, and cross-border payments.
The report suggests that many institutions are struggling to keep pace with the speed at which sanctions frameworks are evolving, especially as criminal networks increasingly exploit jurisdictional gaps, digital assets, and complex ownership structures to evade restrictions. Supervisors and industry representatives alike stressed the need for more coordinated guidance, faster information sharing, and greater alignment across the EU to avoid fragmentation and duplicated compliance efforts.
One section of the report focuses specifically on why responding effectively to financial crime remains so difficult across the European Union. Participants identified several recurring obstacles:
- Fragmented supervisory approaches across Member States, creating inconsistent expectations for firms operating cross-border
- Limited information sharing between competent authorities, FIUs, and private-sector institutions
- Rapidly evolving sanctions and financial crime risks that outpace existing compliance frameworks
- Increasingly sophisticated criminal networks making use of complex ownership structures, digital assets, and cross-border payment channels
- Resource and staffing constraints within both supervisory authorities and regulated firms
- Uneven technological capabilities and data quality across jurisdictions
- Legal and operational barriers to cross-border cooperation
- Difficulties balancing innovation, data protection requirements, and effective financial crime monitoring
Technology and digitalisation were among the most heavily discussed themes throughout the Roadshow. Participants repeatedly pointed to the increasing speed and scale of financial transactions; particularly through instant payments, fintech platforms, and crypto-asset services and highlighted the constant risk landscape of AML procedures. Traditional monitoring systems were widely described as struggling to cope with the volume, complexity, and real-time nature of modern financial activity.
Many stakeholders highlighted that criminals are increasingly using digital assets, online platforms, mule account networks, and layered cross-border transactions to obscure the movement of funds and evade both AML controls and sanctions restrictions. Several authorities also raised concerns about the use of artificial intelligence and automation by criminal groups to create more sophisticated fraud schemes and identity manipulation techniques.
The Report also mentions that there are concerns around the comparatively low level of AML/CFT maturity in parts of the non-financial sector. Participants noted that certain designated non-financial businesses and professions, including legal, accounting, real estate, trust and company service providers, often lack the same level of compliance infrastructure, expertise, and supervisory engagement. Several stakeholders warned that this creates vulnerabilities that can be exploited by criminal networks, particularly in relation to beneficial ownership concealment, asset structuring, and sanctions evasion.
Supervisors also pointed to significant differences in risk awareness and compliance culture across these sectors, with some firms still treating AML obligations as a largely administrative requirement rather than a core risk management function. The report suggests that improving AML maturity in the non-financial sector will require stronger supervision, clearer guidance, more specialised training, and greater investment in compliance capabilities.
Although, as mentioned above, technology and low-level AML maturity raises concerns around the AML landscape, it also shines light on how technology can be used for good and will be central to Europe’s future AML/CFT framework. It will serve as essentially a beacon of hope as it will help firms with:
- Advanced analytics
- AI-driven transaction monitoring
- Network analysis, and
- Improved data-sharing capabilities
Overall, therefore, stakeholders broadly welcomed the creation of AMLA and the wider EU AML package. Many participants believe the move toward a Single Rulebook and greater supervisory convergence could reduce fragmentation, improve consistency, and strengthen cooperation between national authorities and FIUs.
At the same time, the report makes clear that expectations for AMLA are exceptionally high. Stakeholders are looking to the authority to improve cross-border coordination, support more consistent supervision, facilitate information exchange, and provide practical implementation guidance for both supervisors and regulated entities. AMLA acknowledged, however, that some expectations extend beyond its direct mandate and that meaningful convergence across the EU will take time.
For financial institutions, the message is increasingly clear: AML/CFT and sanctions compliance are becoming more interconnected, more data-driven, and more strategically important. Firms operating across multiple jurisdictions are likely to face increasing expectations around governance, screening capabilities, beneficial ownership controls, and cross-border risk management.
As the EU moves toward a more centralised and harmonised AML/CFT framework, AMLA is expected to play a crucial role in shaping supervisory convergence, improving cooperation between national authorities and FIUs, and strengthening Europe’s collective ability to detect and respond to increasingly sophisticated financial crime threats. The Roadshow findings underline that effective AML/CFT supervision will depend not only on stronger regulation, but also on better technology, greater information sharing, and deeper coordination between the public and private sectors across the European Union.
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