AMLA and OLAF sign working arrangement to share financial crime information
The EU's Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) signed a Working Arrangement on 21 October 2026. It sets up information exchange and lets OLAF contribute to AMLA-coordinated joint analyses of money laundering linked to fraud involving EU funds.
On 21 October 2026, the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA) and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) announced in a joint press release that they had signed a Working Arrangement. The arrangement covers cooperation and information exchange against money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud and corruption.
Under the arrangement, the two bodies will exchange operational and strategic information. According to the release, this includes criminal patterns, emerging trends, risk indicators and crime prevention methods. The stated aim is a faster and more coordinated EU response to complex financial crimes.
AMLA coordinates joint analyses. Where relevant to its mandate, OLAF may contribute its anti-fraud expertise to these joint analyses, subject to the consent of the participating Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs, the national agencies that receive and analyse suspicious activity reports). The release says this supports joint operational analysis of money laundering linked to fraud involving EU funds. Information from joint analyses can also be cross-checked against information OLAF makes available, to flag potential matches early.
The release says the arrangement is based on Article 94 of the AMLA Regulation, which provides a framework for cooperation, and is in line with the provisions of OLAF's Regulation. OLAF's Director-General said that the goals include increased recoveries and stronger protection of the EU's financial interests.
Why it matters to AML professionals
Cooperation agreements between EU bodies shape how suspicious activity reports filed by banks and other obliged entities are analysed and used after submission. When FIU analysis is combined with anti-fraud intelligence, the quality and detail of a firm's reports matter more, because they may feed cross-border investigations. AML professionals at firms handling public funds, grants or procurement payments should expect closer attention to fraud-linked laundering.
Red flags in this case
- Grant or subsidy payments received by a company and moved out quickly to unrelated third parties or offshore accounts
- Invoices between related companies with no clear goods or services behind them, timed around the receipt of public funds
- A newly formed company receiving large public contract payments that do not match its size, staff or trading history
- Funds from a public programme passing through several accounts in different countries within a short period
If this landed in your queue
- Identify the source of the incoming funds and check whether they come from a public programme, grant or procurement contract
- Compare the customer's stated business and expected activity with the size and pattern of the payments received and sent
- Trace where the funds went after receipt and whether the beneficiaries have a clear link to the project being funded
- If the activity remains unexplained, document the analysis clearly and file a suspicious activity report with the national FIU
Key terms
- AMLA
- The EU Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism, which coordinates and supports national AML supervisors and FIUs.
- OLAF
- The European Anti-Fraud Office, which investigates fraud and corruption affecting the EU budget.
- Joint analysis
- An analysis of a cross-border case carried out together by several national FIUs.
Interview angle
Why does cooperation between financial intelligence units and anti-fraud agencies matter for a bank's AML team?
Explain that suspicious activity reports are used beyond the FIU that receives them, that fraud is a common predicate offence for laundering, and that clear, well-documented reports help investigators connect cases across countries.
Sources
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