Credit Institutions Highlight Their Role and Contribution in the Fight Against Money Laundering

• CECA, AEB, and Unacc, in collaboration with Sepblac, celebrate the tenth Sectorial Conference on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing

• The conference addressed the concerns of authorities and obligated subjects in the preventive area, all from the perspective of public-private collaboration

• This annual meeting gathered prominent representatives from the General Directorate of the Treasury and Financial Policy, Sepblac, credit institutions, and sectorial associations

The associations of credit institutions CECA, AEB, and Unacc, in collaboration with Sepblac, have celebrated today the tenth edition of the Sectorial Conference on the Prevention of Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing, and Proliferation Financing (PBC/FT), which gathered leading experts in the field, as well as representatives from supervisory bodies and major regulatory authorities.

The meeting, held at CECA’s headquarters in Madrid, focused on the cooperative and centralizing role of the new European Authority for Money Laundering Prevention (AMLA) and its progress in the past year in financial intelligence, supervision, and regulatory competencies. Topics discussed also included the FATF’s visit to Spain, recent developments in supervision and inspection, emerging typologies of money laundering and illicit financing, and the most relevant regulatory and supervisory architecture aspects, such as the Financial Integrity Authority (ANIFI) project, the National Council of PBCFT, and AMLA’s level 2 developments.

The conference brought together key representatives from the Treasury, Sepblac, the National Police, and the Civil Guard, as well as credit institutions integrated in the organizing associations, all specialized in PBC/FT. They addressed the latest developments in regulation, new risk typologies, and emerging trends in the realm of money laundering.

The opening was led by Irene Sánchez, advisory member of the Sub-Directorate General for Inspection and Control of Capital Movements at the Treasury, who highlighted the challenges the private and public sectors will have to face together in the coming months, emphasizing the mutual evaluation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which will culminate in 2027 and will test the state of the Spanish preventive system.

Juan Manuel Vega Serrano, the vice president of AMLA, delivered a special presentation on the European authority and its strategic roadmap to strengthen the supervision of money laundering and aid financial intelligence coordination. In this regard, he underscored its centralizing and cooperative role, as well as the digital challenges ahead.

Following this, three round tables were held focusing on supervision and inspection, financial intelligence, and regulatory novelties, respectively, featuring representatives from both the public and private sectors.

The first panel, dedicated to developments in supervision and inspection, was moderated by Alfredo Oñoro, CECA’s Compliance Director. Participants included Alejandro Valiñas, head of the Inspection Division and Supervisory Methodology at Sepblac; Juan Casillas, head of the Financial Inspections Unit in the same organization; and Raquel Cabeza, corporate director of Risks and Compliance at Cecabank.

All three presented conclusions drawn from recent inspections, as well as findings detected and upcoming challenges of the inspection plan, highlighting the importance of coordination between national and European supervisors in a scenario where the new AMLA authority will begin to assume competencies.

The second panel discussed the most relevant novelties and typologies in the field of financial intelligence. Moderated by Cristina Freijanes, Secretary General of UNACC, it included contributions from Juan Carlos Calleja, head of the Strategic Intelligence Division of Sepblac; Santiago Álvarez, chief inspector of the Central Financial Intelligence Brigade, a unit attached to the National Police; Carlos Cadiñano, lieutenant colonel and head of the Civil Guard Attached Unit; and Miriam González, director of Quality Assurance at the BBVA Research Unit.

This panel focused on the so-called “crime as a service,” reflecting the growing professionalization of money laundering activities. Detecting such activities is complex; hence, a general overview of the phenomenon was provided, explaining its characteristics and some behavioral patterns that can trigger alarms in detection systems. Real operations were presented to illustrate this typology, detailing the steps taken from the moment information is received via suspicion communication to the final result of the developed operation.

Finally, the third panel was moderated by María Peco, senior advisor for Legal Affairs and Money Laundering Prevention at AEB. Participants included Sandra Oliva, Area Coordinator of the Sub-Directorate General for Inspection and Control of Capital Movements at the Treasury; Belén Álvarez, PBC/FT expert in the Non-Financial Inspection Division and Technical Secretariat of Sepblac; and Javier Oliveros, Compliance Director of Caja de Ingenieros.

This panel analyzed major projected and recently introduced organizational changes at the national level—particularly focusing on the creation of the new ANIFI and the establishment of the National Council for the Prevention of Money Laundering—as well as international changes and their impact on organizations. Moreover, it reviewed advances in the transposition of the AMLA directive and developments in second- and third-level regulations. Additionally, the progress of the FATF evaluation was discussed, along with the steps already taken and the planned timeline.

The conference concluded with a speech by Margarita Rufas, deputy director of Sepblac, who emphasized the contributions made throughout the round tables and underscored the importance of maintaining a solid cooperation framework among supervisors, authorities, and financial institutions.