By CARLO BOFFA, EU Correspondent
A senior Cypriot anti-money laundering official urged authorities to clarify who will oversee non-financial professions before the EU’s new rules apply next year.
Cyprus is among the many member states that have yet to appoint supervisors for several non-financial business categories that fall under the rules, which for the first time reach sectors such as professional football and traders in high-value goods.
“A clear division of supervisory responsibilities is needed to ensure that supervisory authorities are prepared in a timely manner,” said Kleanthis Ioannides, head of the Central Bank of Cyprus’s AML department
He told Kathimerini in an interview that authorities must define oversight of the self-regulatory bodies that supervise professionals such as lawyers and accountants, as well as supervision of newly regulated entities, before the rules start applying on July 10, 2027.
Football is a particularly thorny area, as many federations and regulators lack the financial crime expertise to apply oversight. Only Bulgaria and Belgium have national AML frameworks for clubs.
Many countries have yet to make arrangements, but they have time as rules apply to agents and clubs only from July 10, 2029.
The EU’s Anti-Money Laundering Authority will start direct supervision of 40 financial institutions as of 2028, but it does not have direct supervisory powers on non-financial firms.
Ioannides, who also sits on AMLA’s General Board, called on Cypriot lawmakers to speed up work to finish the national legislative changes required by the EU’s sixth AML directive in time.
Speaking of the new regime, Ioannides stressed that preventing money laundering should not mean more paperwork, and that banks and other financial institutions should ask only for customer data that is necessary and justified.
“We want strict due diligence checks where there is real risk, not unnecessary mechanistic bureaucracy for citizens and businesses,” he said.
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