Three European supervisory authorities (the European Banking Authority/EBA, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority/EIOPA and the European Securities and Markets Authority/ESMA) have jointly launched a public consultation on two guidelines for anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT).

The consultation on the two guidelines are:

1. 'Risk-Based Supervision' guidelines' – this addresses authorities responsible for supervising credit and financial institutions’ compliance with applicable AML/CFT obligations. The guidelines set out what competent authorities should do to ensure that their allocation of supervisory resources is commensurate to the level of money laundering and terrorist financing risk associated with credit and financial institutions in their sector.
2. 'Risk-Factors' guidelines - this addresses credit and financial institutions and competent authorities responsible for supervising compliance with the AML/CFT obligations. It provides guidance on the factors credit and financial institutions should consider when assessing the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing associated with individual business relationships, and on how they should adjust their customer due diligence measures as a result of that risk assessment.

According to the authorities' statement, the guidelines promote “a common understanding of the risk-based approach to AML/CFT and set out how it should be applied by credit and financial institutions and competent authorities across the EU”.

 

There will be a public hearing on the guidelines in London on 15 December 2015. Forms for responding to the consultation are available on the EBA's website. Comments should be received by 22 January 2016.