AMLA Executive Board Member Hennie Verbeek-Kusters delivered a keynote speech on AMLA's mission, challenges and vision at the 10th Austrian Anti-Money Laundering Conference, hosted by the Austrian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in Vienna on 1 October 2026.
Verbeek-Kusters acknowledged that the establishment of a new EU authority requires close engagement with all stakeholders. She stressed that AMLA does not replace national supervisors or FIUs; instead, it aims to make the EU AML/CFT framework more consistent and effective, while staying risk-based and proportionate.
She also addressed what the new framework will mean in practice for obliged entities, including a common format for reporting suspicions, guidelines on indicators of suspicious activity and new possibilities for information-sharing partnerships. She underlined that indicators are meant to support professional judgement, not replace it. She also clarified that AMLA's direct supervision will include some of the most impactful, cross-border financial institutions, while its role in promoting supervisory convergence will be much broader.
Looking ahead, Verbeek-Kusters outlined AMLA's role in supporting and coordinating FIUs across the Union, including through peer reviews, joint analyses of cross-border cases and the development of the FIUnion Hub.
She concluded that achieving greater clarity and consistency will depend on close cooperation with national authorities, supervisors, FIUs and obliged entities, and on continued dialogue with those applying the framework in practice.
