AML Insights: Lithuania

As Lithuania engages with the evolving EU Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulatory architecture, a recent workshop in Vilnius, co-hosted by Lithuania’s Center of Excellence in Anti-Money Laundering and the Centre for Finance and Security at RUSI, provided a forum for diverse financial and regulatory stakeholders to reflect on national readiness, implementation challenges and regulatory clarity. Discussions centred on institutional coordination, regulatory feedback mechanisms, supervisory expectations, sector-specific implications and the anticipated role of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority.

In summary, the workshop sought to build understanding of how a major new AML framework, designed in Brussels in light of significant AML policy failings in the traditional banking sector – most notably in the Nordic-Baltic region a decade ago – is viewed in a diverse financial community such as Lithuania, and the extent of the understanding and implementation gap that exists between Brussels and EU member states.