EU AMLA & AML Package: What Family Offices Must Know

The European Union's 2024 AML Package, comprising a new Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR), a revised Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD6), and the regulation establishing the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), represents the most significant overhaul of EU AML/CFT rules in over a decade. Published in the Official Journal in June 2024, the package creates a single EU rulebook that will apply directly across member states without needing national transposition for the regulatory core, and establishes AMLA as a centralised supervisory body headquartered in Frankfurt.

For family offices, the critical shift is an expanded definition of 'obliged entities.' Wealth managers, asset managers, and certain investment-related structures serving high-net-worth clients are explicitly drawn into scope. AMLA will directly supervise the riskiest cross-border financial entities from around 2028, while national competent authorities will oversee others under harmonised standards. Beneficial ownership rules are tightened, enhanced due-diligence requirements for high-risk clients and transactions are standardised EU-wide, and member states retain limited discretion to gold-plate rules, reducing regulatory arbitrage that some structures previously exploited.