On 8 October 2025, the European Banking Authority (EBA) issued a final report on Member State competent authorities’ (NCAs) approaches to the anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) supervision of banks.
Background
The final report follows in-depth reviews that the EBA carried out on 40 NCAs’ approaches to tackling money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks in banks in all EU/EEA Member States over the last 6 years, issuing recommendations when necessary to improve the effectiveness of AML/CFT supervision.
The EBA’s reviews of NCAs’ approaches to tackling ML/TF risks in banks have been conducted in accordance with Articles 1, 8(1), 9a and 29(1) and (2) of the EBA Regulation, which confers on the EBA a duty to ensure effective and consistent supervisory practices, to contribute to the consistent and effective application of EU law and to contribute to preventing the use of the EU’s financial system for ML/TF purposes.
Key findings
Key findings in the final report include:
- Overall, NCAs have made significant progress over the past six years in adopting a risk-based approach to AML/CFT supervision.
- NCAs have taken notable steps to align national strategies and practices with the EBA standards.
- Most supervisors have taken significant steps to use all supervisory tools available to them in a more strategic way.
- There has been significant progress in relation to establishing sound and effective communication with NCAs in other EU jurisdictions or third countries. Nevertheless, in some Member States, further improvement is needed, for example in relation to effective cooperation mechanisms with prudential supervisors.
Next steps
The final report as well as the four summary reports will be part of the EBA’s handover to the EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority.