AML-legislation
Belgian anti-money laundering (AML) legislation requires organizations to take active measures against money laundering and terrorist financing. On this Learn page, you will discover the core obligations, practical applications, and what this means in concrete terms for your organization under the law of September 18, 2017.
What is Belgian AML legislation?
In Belgium, anti-money laundering legislation has been in force since September 18, 2017. This law implements European directives against money laundering and terrorist financing and imposes strict obligations on Belgian companies. The aim is to prevent financial flows from being used for criminal activities or terrorism. Important elements of the law are:
- Identification and verification of customers and their ultimate beneficiaries (UBO’s)
- Registration in the UBO register
- Monitoring of transactions and detection of suspicious activities
- Sanctions and embargo controls in accordance with EU rules
Who must comply with the AML Act?
The law imposes obligations on a broad group of entities, often referred to as “subject entities.” These include:
- Banks and credit institutions
- Insurance companies, particularly life insurers
- Payment institutions and electronic money providers (crypto)
- Investment firms and securities institutions
- Trust offices and certain professional service providers
- Art galleries, auction houses, antique dealers, and similar businesses when transactions exceed €10,000.
These organizations must have internal procedures for customer identification, risk assessment, and sanctions checks. Failure to comply may result in fines or other penalties.
Obligations for companies under the AML?
Companies that fall under the AML Act must:
- Performing customer identification and verification for new business relationships
- Maintaining and checking UBO registration
- Performing sanctions checks on customers and transactions
- Perform risk assessment: geographic risk, sector, transaction size, customer type
- Monitoring transactions and reporting suspicious activities to the CFI
Who supervises the AML law in Belgium?
Supervision and enforcement are divided among various agencies:
- FPS Finance/Treasury Administration: manages the UBO register in Belgium and supervises correct registration
- CFI (Financial Intelligence Processing Unit): receives and analyzes reports of suspicious transactions and coordinates the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
- Certain professional groups, such as accountants or auditors, are subject to additional supervision by their respective professional associations or supervisory authorities.
AML legislation is part of Compliance Management. Read more about this on our Compliance page.
