By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
Marcus Pleyer, the former president of the FATF, is one of the final three people in the running to lead the EU’s new AMLA body, MEPs said today.
AML Intelligence revealed earlier today that the three final names have been sent to members of two of the parliament’s committees overseeing finance and justice affairs – the ECON and LIBE committees.
Alongside the former FATF President, the shortlisted candidates to lead the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) are from the Netherlands and Italy.
Dr Pleyer, who spoke earlier today in London at the ‘International Anti-Financial Crime Financial Summit 2024’, was widely expected to be one of the strongest candidates in the running for the AMLA chair job.
But when Frankfurt was chosen as the location for AMLA headquarters many observers felt that the chair would go to a French candidate.
Sources in the European Parliament in Strasbourg said there were initially some apprehension that the former FATF President ,as a German national, may be less likely to get the position due to concerns about geopolitical balance.
However, it’s thought officials in Brussels felt it would be counterproductive to exclude a candidate as highly qualified as Dr Pleyer for such reasons.
Dr Pleyer is the deputy director general of the German Federal Finance Ministry. He also previously served as a supervisor with the country’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bafin)
Between 2020 and 2022, he served as president of the Financial Action Task Force.
This gave his international reputation a significant boost, as he was widely recognized to have successfully led the organization through a difficult period during the Covid pandemic.
He is also one of the few European figures who has worked in the field of AML for decades, while also having the experience of leading hundreds of staff.
“Pleyer has been widely praised by the likes of Janet Yellen, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, for making the European concept of beneficial ownership a global standard,” said one member of the ECON committee today.
“He is certainly a stand out candidate for the role,” the MEP noted.MEPs will now organize informal hearings with the candidates based on which they will make their choice, sources said.
The successful candidate will be responsible for building up AMLA as soon as possible. The agency, which will formally open its office Frankfurt at the start of 2025, will eventually have more than 400 staff.
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