European UnionAnti-Money-Laundering Regulation: Reporting of Suspicions to the Financial Intelligence Unit and Prohibition of Disclosure (Articles 69 and 73)
Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, Articles 69 and 73
An AI sector rules rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Reporting, Prohibition
- Audit expectation
- on_request
- Who audits it
- Regulator
As of .
What it requires
- This duty takes effect on (Article 90), except for the obliged entities referred to in Article 3, points (3)(n) and (o), football agents and professional football clubs, for which it takes effect on (Article 90); Directive (EU) 2015/849 is repealed with effect from (Directive (EU) 2024/1640, Article 77), and references to its Articles 33 and 39 are read as references to Articles 69 and 73 of this Regulation (Article 89 and Annex VI).
- It reaches you if you are an obliged entity within Article 3, which lists credit institutions, financial institutions and the persons named in point (3) acting in the exercise of their professional activities: cooperate fully with the financial intelligence unit by promptly reporting to it, on your own initiative, where you know, suspect or have reasonable grounds to suspect that funds or activities, regardless of the amount involved, are the proceeds of criminal activity or are related to terrorist financing or criminal activity, and by responding to its requests for additional information in such cases (Article 69(1), point (a)). A notary, lawyer, other independent legal professional, auditor, external accountant or tax advisor is exempt from Article 69(1) to the extent that the exemption relates to information received from, or obtained on, a client in the course of ascertaining the legal position of that client or performing the task of defending or representing that client in, or concerning, judicial proceedings, but not where the person takes part in money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing, provides legal advice for those purposes, or knows that the client is seeking legal advice for those purposes (Article 70(2)).
- Provide the financial intelligence unit, at its request, with all necessary information, including information on transaction records, within the deadlines imposed, and reply to its requests for information within 5 working days, a deadline the unit may shorten in justified and urgent cases, including to less than 24 hours, or extend where it considers that justified and the extension does not undermine its analysis (Article 69(1), point (b), and third and fourth subparagraphs).
- Report all suspicious transactions, including attempted transactions and suspicions arising from the inability to conduct customer due diligence (Article 69(1), second subparagraph).
- Assess the transactions or activities carried out by your customers on the basis of and against any relevant fact and information known to you or which you are in possession of, prioritizing the assessment where necessary according to the urgency of the transaction or activity and the risks affecting the Member State in which you are established, and base a suspicion on the characteristics of the customer and their counterparts, the size and nature of the transaction or activity or the methods and patterns thereof, the link between several transactions or activities, the origin, destination or use of funds, or any other circumstance known to you, including the consistency of the transaction or activity with the information obtained under Chapter III, including the risk profile of the client (Article 69(2)).
- Have the compliance officer appointed in accordance with Article 11(2) transmit the information to the financial intelligence unit of the Member State in whose territory you are established (Article 69(6)), and protect the compliance officer, and any employee or person in a comparable position, including agents and distributors, involved in these tasks against retaliation, discrimination and any other unfair treatment for carrying out them (Article 69(7)).
- Do not disclose to the customer concerned or to other third persons the fact that transactions or activities are being or have been assessed in accordance with Article 69, that information is being, will be or has been transmitted in accordance with Article 69 or 70, or that a money laundering or terrorist financing analysis is being, or may be, carried out; the prohibition binds you and your directors, employees and persons in comparable positions, including agents and distributors, subject to the exceptions of Article 73(2) to (6) (Article 73(1)).
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The supervisors, which Article 2(1), point (45), defines as the bodies entrusted with responsibilities aimed at ensuring compliance by obliged entities with the requirements of the Regulation, including the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) when it performs the tasks entrusted to it in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1620.
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Articles 69 and 73 name no record. Article 77(1), point (b), separately requires obliged entities to retain a record of the assessment undertaken pursuant to Article 69(2), whether or not it results in a suspicious transaction report, and a copy of any report.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 lists credit institutions and financial institutions among the obliged entities.
Article 69(1), point (a), requires obliged entities, and where applicable their directors and employees, to cooperate fully with the financial intelligence unit by promptly reporting to it, on their own initiative, where the obliged entity knows, suspects or has reasonable grounds to suspect that funds or activities, regardless of the amount involved, are the proceeds of criminal activity or are related to terrorist financing or criminal activity, and by responding to requests by the unit for additional information in such cases.
Article 69(1), point (b), requires obliged entities to provide the unit, at its request, with all necessary information, including information on transaction records, within the deadlines imposed. Article 69(1) requires all suspicious transactions, including attempted transactions and suspicions arising from the inability to conduct customer due diligence, to be reported.
Obliged entities must reply to requests for information by the unit within 5 working days, a deadline the unit may shorten in justified and urgent cases, including to less than 24 hours, and may extend where it considers that justified and the extension does not undermine its analysis.
Article 69(2) requires obliged entities to assess transactions or activities carried out by their customers on the basis of and against any relevant fact and information known to them or which they are in possession of, prioritizing the assessment where necessary according to the urgency of the transaction or activity and the risks affecting the Member State in which they are established.
Article 69(2) provides that a suspicion shall be based on the characteristics of the customer and their counterparts, the size and nature of the transaction or activity or the methods and patterns thereof, the link between several transactions or activities, the origin, destination or use of funds, or any other circumstance known to the obliged entity, including the consistency of the transaction or activity with the information obtained pursuant to Chapter III including the risk profile of the client.
Article 69(3) requires the Anti-Money Laundering Authority to develop by draft implementing technical standards specifying the format to be used for the reporting of suspicions and for the provision of transaction records. Article 69(5) requires the Authority to issue by guidelines on indicators of suspicious activity or behaviors.
Article 69(6) requires the compliance officer appointed in accordance with Article 11(2) to transmit the information to the unit of the Member State in whose territory the obliged entity transmitting the information is established.
Article 69(7) requires obliged entities to ensure that the compliance officer, and any employee or person in a comparable position, including agents and distributors, involved in these tasks are protected against retaliation, discrimination and any other unfair treatment for carrying out those tasks.
Article 70(2) exempts notaries, lawyers, other independent legal professionals, auditors, external accountants and tax advisors from Article 69(1) to the extent that the exemption relates to information they receive from, or obtain on, a client in the course of ascertaining the legal position of that client or performing their task of defending or representing that client in, or concerning, judicial proceedings, and the exemption does not apply where they take part in money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing, provide legal advice for those purposes, or know that the client is seeking legal advice for those purposes.
Article 72 provides that disclosure of information to the unit in good faith by an obliged entity or by an employee or director of such an obliged entity in accordance with Articles 69 and 70 does not constitute a breach of any restriction on disclosure of information imposed by contract or by any legislative, regulatory or administrative provision, and does not involve the obliged entity or its directors or employees in liability of any kind.
Article 73(1) provides that obliged entities and their directors, employees, or persons in comparable positions, including agents and distributors, shall not disclose to the customer concerned or to other third persons the fact that transactions or activities are being or have been assessed in accordance with Article 69, that information is being, will be or has been transmitted in accordance with Article 69 or 70, or that a money laundering or terrorist financing analysis is being, or may be, carried out.
Article 73(2) provides that the prohibition does not apply to disclosures to competent authorities and to self-regulatory bodies where they perform supervisory functions, or to disclosure for the purposes of investigating and prosecuting money laundering, terrorist financing and other criminal activity.
Article 73(3) to (6) provide further derogations for disclosure within the same group, within the same legal person or larger structure of notaries, lawyers, other independent legal professionals, auditors, external accountants and tax advisors, between obliged entities in cases relating to the same transaction involving two or more obliged entities, and for an attempt to dissuade a client from engaging in illegal activity.
Article 90 provides that the Regulation applies from , except in relation to the obliged entities referred to in Article 3, points (3)(n) and (o), to which it applies from . Article 77 of Directive (EU) 2024/1640 repeals Directive (EU) 2015/849 with effect from .
Article 89 provides that references to Directive (EU) 2015/849 are to be construed as references to the Regulation and to Directive (EU) 2024/1640 and read in accordance with the correlation table in Annex VI. Annex VI correlates Article 33(1) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 with Article 69(1) of the Regulation, Article 33(2) with Article 69(6), and Article 39 with Article 73.
Article 13(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1620 provides that credit institutions and financial institutions, and groups of them, whose residual risk profile has been classified as high pursuant to Article 12 qualify as selected obliged entities, and Article 13(2) provides that where more than 40 entities are identified the Authority may agree on limiting the selection to a specific different number that is greater than 40.
Article 13(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1620 provides that the Authority shall commence the first selection process by and conclude it within six months, and shall commence direct supervision of the selected obliged entities six months after publication of the list.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app provides financial services.