Across the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, almost half of financial firms believe that current Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations are insufficiently clear or do not address many of the practicalities of modern AML operations, with many firms, especially banks, having concerns about the workability of both current and upcoming AML regulations.
In its first-of-its-kind report, covering hundreds of financial institutions in 40 countries across EMEA, PwC’s EMEA AML Survey 2024: Spotlight on Effectiveness sheds light on how banks, asset managers, and payment institutions are tackling AML risks, their perspectives on the regulatory environment and future-proofing the financial system.
In the face of increasing regulations and regulators’ growing scrutiny and focus on AML effectiveness, financial firms said the biggest challenges are lack of regulatory uniformity, finding skilled AML staff, data management, updating Know-Your-Customer (KYC) documentation, automating processes, and operational costs, which have increased by 14% over the past two years.
Key findings include:
Michael Weis, Anti-Financial Crime Leader at PwC Luxembourg and co-chairman of the editorial board said:
"Within the EU financial sector, there's a mixed sentiment towards regulatory clarity and effectiveness. While just over half of firms see current regulations as clear enough, much scepticism remains about the practicalities of implementation. Despite this, we welcome today the European Parliament’s vote on the EU’s AML package which will address those concerns by helping to create a more harmonised regulatory environment across borders and industries and address some of the operational challenges faced by firms."
Speaking at the launch of the report at PwC Luxembourg, Marilin Pikaro, Director of the Innovation, Conduct and Consumers Department at the European Banking Authority (EBA) said:
"Sound AML/CFT governance arrangements, appropriate risk assessment practices, awareness of staff members and timely reporting processes are key to prevent and fight money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF). The European Banking Authority’s role as defined by its legal mandate is to lead, coordinate and monitor the EU financial sector’s fight against ML/TF across the EU."
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Pauline André
Director, Head of Marketing & Communications, PwC Luxembourg
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