4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive

The new Anti-Money Laundering Directive (2015/849) of 20 May 2015, was published on 5 June 2015, in the official Gazette of the E.U. The Directive aims to prevent and combat money laundering and terrorist financing, and further develops the 3rd Anti-Money Laundering Directive, taking into account the revised Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations.

Member states will have two years to implement the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive into national legislation.

The following are among the main points included in the new Directive:

• Entities which have to apply preventive measures (e.g., Banks, auditors, lawyers, trust and company service providers).
• Measures for the identification of customers (customer due diligence). They include simplified and enhanced customer due diligence, and performance by third parties.
• Provisions on the identification of beneficial owners of legal entities, including trusts, who should be registered in a central registry accessible by competent authorities, and people with legitimate interest.
• Obligation to report suspicious transactions and detailed provisions on the role and powers of the Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs).
  Provisions on Data Protection and record keeping.
• Provisions on supervision of obliged entities and training.
• Provisions on national cooperation between competent authorities, as well as cooperation between E.U. member states and with third countries.
• Provisions on effective and dissuasive sanctions in case of breach of the obligations prescribed in the Directive, as transposed into national legislation.
• An assessment to be conducted by the E.U. Commission on the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing, and how these affect the internal market and relate to cross-border activities within the Union.