AMLA Draft Sparks Pushback

Europe’s new anti-money-laundering rulebook is running into resistance from trade-finance banks before it even takes effect in July 2027. (amla.europa.eu) The new European Anti-Money Laundering Authority, or AMLA, opened consultations on 9 February 2026 on draft technical standards for customer due diligence and for defining a “business relationship.” AMLA says those standards are meant to make anti-money-laundering enforcement more consistent across the bloc. (amla.europa.eu) (eba.europa.eu) Trade finance is the part of banking that helps importers and exporters get paid, often through paper-heavy tools like letters of credit, guarantees and supply-chain finance programs. In those deals, banks deal with many parties who are not direct customers, including exporters, warehouse operators and invoice sellers. (gtreview.com) That distinction is where the fight sits. The International Trade and Forfaiting Association said AMLA’s draft could force banks to run full due-diligence checks on huge numbers of non-client counterparties, including parties in reverse-factoring programs. (itfa.org) (gtreview.com) ITFA said the burden could extend to “millions” of non-client counterparties across Europe if the definition is applied too broadly. It asked AMLA to use a more risk-based approach, with lighter checks such as sanctions screening for some non-customer relationships instead of full customer due diligence in every case. (itfa.org) (gtreview.com) Banks are pushing back at the same time many firms say they are not ready for the wider overhaul. PwC said on 21 April 2026 that only one-third of European Union financial institutions expect to be ready for the EU anti-money-laundering package by 10 July 2027. (pwc.lu 1) (pwc.lu 2) PwC’s survey covered 531 financial institutions in 40 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. More than half of respondents said they expect significant operational disruption, about one-third expect costs to rise by 10% to 30%, and 40% said customer due diligence rules are becoming too rules-based. (pwc.lu) The deadline matters because the EU’s AML package starts applying on 10 July 2027, and PwC says AMLA’s direct supervision is due to start on 1 January 2028. That leaves banks roughly 14 months to argue over the final wording, rebuild systems and map which counterparties count as customers. (pwc.lu) (amla.europa.eu) AMLA has not framed the drafts as trade-finance-specific rules. Its consultation page lists them as bloc-wide standards for customer due diligence and for identifying business relationships, occasional transactions and linked transactions across the anti-money-laundering regime. (amla.europa.eu) The immediate next date is 8 May 2026, when AMLA’s consultation closes and industry responses stop being private lobbying and become part of the formal record. Between now and July 2027, the argument is likely to center on one narrow question with big operational consequences: when a counterparty is a customer, and when it is not. (itfa.org) (amla.europa.eu)