Why compliance is judged on effort, and what the European anti-money-laundering package changes about that. Technical compliance with the FATF standards climbed from 36% to 76% between 2012 and 2024, while Europol has estimated for years that roughly 1% of criminal proceeds in the Union is eventually taken. From 10 July 2027 one directly applicable rulebook applies, and from 2028 a European supervisor in Frankfurt directly supervises forty institutions.
Frequently asked questions
Why is compliance judged on effort rather than on outcome?+
Regtech sells to a customer who does not know whether the product works: a bank filing ten thousand reports a year does not know which of them leads to a result. So a sector spending tens of billions a year on compliance is assessed on the presence of the system, not on its functioning.
What does the difference between "having the rules" and "making the rules work" show?+
The FATF assesses countries on two axes. On the first — do they have the rules — the world rose from 36% to 76% compliance between 2012 and 2024. On the axis that counts, effectiveness, only 19% of 120 assessed countries reached a high or substantial level in confiscating criminal assets.
How much criminal wealth is actually recovered in the EU?+
Europol has estimated for years that about 1% of criminal proceeds in the Union is ultimately recovered. That figure illustrates the gap between a system that is fully compliant and one that achieves the intended outcome.
What does the European anti-money-laundering package change from 2027?+
The package brings a single directly applicable rulebook from 10 July 2027 and a European supervisor, AMLA, in Frankfurt. That harmonises the rules across member states and shifts part of supervision to the European level.
What does Article 75 on joint data-sharing mean for regtech?+
Article 75 allows institutions to share data where the risk is already known. That shifts the emphasis from each-for-itself reporting towards shared signals, and opens space for technology that measures effectiveness rather than merely counting reports.