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Spain, a benchmark in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing

#Madrid4AMLA

Our candidacy

Madrid, Headquarters of the European Anti Money Laundering Authority

Spain has a strong commitment to the prevention of money laundering (AML) and European values, being a global benchmark. In relation to AMLA's future competences, the Spanish system maintains high standards and qualifications that place it among the best in the EU and the world.

It highlights AML/CFT supervision, where the FATF notes that "Spain has a strong AML/CFT supervisory system for the financial sectors and has demonstrated that its supervisory and monitoring procedures have prevented criminals from controlling financial institutions".

The private sector has high compliance standards in Spain: "The overall robustness of the preventive measures applied by Spanish financial institutions is particularly notable in the banking sector". Spain is among the top four countries in the world in the production and use of financial intelligence.

AML/CFT Reference Entities

With a precursor framework to that of AMLA

The Spanish model already has a robust institutional design similar to that proposed for AMLA, where the Commission for the Prevention of Money Laundering and its supporting bodies act as regulator, supervisor and Financial Intelligence Unit. Spain stands out for the high degree of coordination between national institutions and has strong international cooperation mechanisms. The designation of Madrid as headquarters would allow synergies with other bodies and entities, as well as the recruitment of specialised and highly qualified staff, while maintaining the necessary independence of AMLA.

Facts

Spain, among the four best countries in the world in financial intelligence.


Spain stands out for the high degree of coordination between national institutions and has strong international cooperation mechanisms.

The Spanish model already has a robust institutional design similar to the one proposed for AMLA.

Spain is one of the five EU member states with a “High” level of effectiveness in at least one Immediate Outcome and is the EU Member State that scores “Substantial” effectiveness more times.

Spain is one of the two best-rated EU Member States as regards to the effectiveness of AML/TF supervision and is also among the two best FIUs in the EU, with the highest financial intelligence rating.

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