It will be mandatory to appoint a member of the board of directors as the person responsible for anti-money laundering.

The Bank of Italy provides for this in its provision of August 1, which amended the previous provisions regarding organization, procedures, and internal controls for anti-money laundering purposes and, at the same time, implemented the European Banking Authority guidelines adopted on June 14, 2022. 

 

The new provisions apply to banks, securities brokerage firms, asset management companies, payment and electronic money institutions, financial intermediaries (leasing, factoring, and consumer credit companies), trust companies registered in the special section of the 106 TUB register, Poste Italiane, and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.

 

All these entities are required to appoint an anti-money laundering officer (or, for short, the AML Managing Director) at the first renewal of the corporate bodies following the entry into force of the new regulations and in any case no later than June 30, 2026.

 

The AML Managing Director must possess adequate knowledge, skills, and experience regarding money laundering risks, anti-money laundering policies, controls, and procedures, as well as the recipient's business model and the sector in which he or she operates. He or she must have adequate time and resources to effectively perform his or her duties.

 

According to the Bank of Italy, the Managing Director will be the primary point of contact between the head of the anti-money laundering function (who, however, will not be able to also assume the new role of Managing Director) and the governing bodies, ensuring that they provide the information necessary to fully understand the significance of money laundering risks.

 

The new role's duties also include informing corporate bodies of any anti-money laundering violations and critical issues they become aware of and recommending appropriate risk mitigation actions.

 

In short, this is a new development that is destined to significantly impact corporate governance and, in particular, the internal control system. It further consolidates and strengthens anti-money laundering measures and the central role of the dedicated function. 

 

In the coming months, thousands of intermediaries will be asked to identify the person to be appointed as AML Chief Executive Officer. This person must possess, in addition to the professionalism, integrity, and integrity requirements set for all board members, the additional specific skills required by the new supervisory provisions, along with a commitment to dedicate the necessary time to the aforementioned role.