Fight against money laundering: New EU agency starts in Frankfurt

Frankfurt/Main – Crime, corruption, undeclared work: Billions of euros from illegal sources are funneled into the regular economy in Europe every year. Now, a new EU agency in Frankfurt is set to combat money laundering more effectively – the “Anti-Money Laundering Authority” (Amla). It is now starting its work.

The task of Amla is to directly supervise around 40 cross-border banks with high money laundering risks, including providers of cryptocurrency services. In addition, the agency, with more than 400 employees, is to coordinate and support the national supervisory authorities.

German Finance Minister calls for tougher measures against financial crime

The German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil emphasized that Amla will elevate European efforts in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing to a new level. “We want to hit fraudsters, tax evaders, and money launderers where it hurts them the most – in their money and in the assets they have acquired illegally,” he told the German Press Agency (dpa). 

“Currently, we have 27 different systems across Europe to combat money laundering,” said Amla head Bruna Szego in an interview with “tagesschau.de”. The goal is to achieve standardization. “There must be no gaps that criminals can exploit.” Amla will help reduce serious crimes such as organized crime, drug or human trafficking, and terrorism.

Germany branded a money laundering paradise

In the bid for the Amla headquarters, Frankfurt was awarded the contract in February 2024, beating out cities like Rome, Vienna, Dublin, Madrid, Brussels, and Paris. Germany has a poor reputation in this regard: The Federal Republic is considered a paradise for money laundering – also because cash payments are traditionally high here. 

According to a study by Nasdaq subsidiary Verafin, around 750 billion US dollars (currently about 635.6 billion euros) in illegal funds were funneled through the European financial system in 2023. Of this, nearly 130 billion dollars (about 110.5 billion euros) or almost one-fifth (17 percent) is attributed to Germany. This makes the Federal Republic the leader in Europe ahead of the United Kingdom and France, according to the company, which specializes in fraud detection and money laundering prevention technology.

Enrichment for the financial center

For the banking center of Frankfurt, which already plays a leading role in financial supervision in Europe, the new EU agency is a prominent addition. The Prime Minister of the German state of Hesse, Boris Rhein, sees the launch of Amla as enriching the financial center with another important player.

“From now on, the important fight against money laundering will be conducted from Frankfurt across Europe”

Boris Rhein, Prime Minister of Hesse

The Hesse state government has set itself the clear goal of strengthening the financial center and making Frankfurt undisputedly Europe’s number one financial center. “The establishment of Amla is another important building block on this path.” (July 1)