Understanding the EU's 6AMLD and the risk to your business

In December 2020, an updated Anti-Money Laundering Directive, known as the 6AMLD, will come into effect around the world, and any organizations operating within the EU will need to comply with the new rules.

Businesses need to be ready for further change, with agile and effective processes in place that can respond to the changing environment; having flexible AML systems in place is the best way to be prepared.

Businesses will be required to cooperate with one another in the prosecution of money laundering-related crimes.

One of the objectives of the 6AMLD is the listing of 22 predicate offenses relating to money laundering, providing clear definitions of each specific crime.

For existing regulated businesses, the changes focus on three areas: cybercrime, cooperation and criminal liability.

The changes brought about by the 6AMLD will effectively mean that businesses will have fewer legitimate excuses if they are found to have even inadvertently enabled money laundering.

Luckily, there is still plenty of time for businesses to prepare, as revisions to national laws are not required until the end of the year.

The "Grace period" before full compliance should not allow businesses to become complacent.

With the new regulations approaching, businesses should be looking to implement robust and automated methods of Know Your Customer and AML verification that they can trust to carry out a higher volume of identity verification checks than previously required.

Joe Kiely is the content marketing manager at Hello Soda - a global provider of identity verification, fraud prevention and personalization software solutions to businesses in a variety of industries.