Szego emphasised that the FIU function is central to AMLA's structure, stressing that without well-resourced Financial Intelligence Units, the fight against illicit finance cannot succeed. She outlined the tools AMLA has been equipped with under the AMLA Regulation, including comprehensive mapping exercises, mechanisms for mutual assistance between FIUs, coordination and participation in joint analyses, peer reviews, and identification of best practices.
The Chair highlighted that significant differences exist between FIUs across Europe in terms of staffing, institutional structure, budgets and digital capacity. She noted that these variations directly affect the quality and reliability of financial intelligence across the Union. AMLA's aim, she stressed, is not to rank or compare, but to build a shared understanding of these differences in order to provide targeted support and enable meaningful cooperation.
Szego underlined AMLA's priority of bringing together supervisory and FIU workstreams, creating opportunities to share knowledge, generate efficiencies, and build a more coherent European AML framework. Before the start of the panel discussion, she introduced Vice-Chair Vega Serrano, highlighting his hands-on experience from running the Spanish FIU.