On 2 August 2021, the European Banking Authority (EBA) launched a public consultation on new guidelines on the role, tasks and responsibilities of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance officers.

When finalised the guidelines apply to financial sector operators as defined in Article 4(1a) of Regulation (EU) No 1093/201019.

The draft guidelines address, for the first time at the level of the EU, the whole AML/CFT governance set-up. Without prejudice to the overall and collective responsibility of the management body, the draft guidelines specify the tasks and role of the member of the management board, or the senior manager where no management board exists, who are in charge of AML/CFT overall, and on the role of group AML/CFT compliance officers. As information reaching the management body needs to be sufficiently comprehensive to enable informed decision-making, the draft guidelines set out which information should be at least included in the activity report of the AML/CFT compliance officer to the management body.

Where a financial services operator is part of a group, the draft guidelines provide that a group AML/CFT compliance officer in the parent company should be appointed to ensure the establishment and implementation of effective group-wide AML/CFT policies and procedures and to ensure that any shortcomings in the AML/CFT framework affecting the entire group or a large part of the group are addressed effectively.

The consultation runs until 2 November 2021.