Current provisions, regulations and guidelines

This page provides a list of regulation on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.  In Finland, responsibility for the development of AML/CFT legislation lies with the Ministry of Finance.

Directives and EU-level regulations

• Directive (EU) 2018/843 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive (EU) 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, and amending Directives 2009/138/EC and 2013/36/EU
• Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directive 2006/70/EC
• Regulation (EU) 2015/847 of the European Parliament and of the Council on information accompanying transfers of funds and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1781/2006, so-called second Funds Transfer Regulation ("2FTR")

The Funds Transfer Regulation obliges providers to notify the FIN-FSA of shortcomings identified by them in information accompanying funds transfers. The notifications are to be sent to the FIN-FSA by email at maksuntiedot(at)fiva.fi. Use this form in the notification (in Finnish).

The ESA guidelines contain more detailed instructions on how payment service providers should act in order to fulfil the requirements of Regulation 2015/847. The ESA guidelines are available on the ESA website.

The ESA guideline was implemented nationally by FIN-FSA regulations and guidelines 5/2018.

• Directive on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing (2005/60/EY) 
• Commission Implementing Directive (2006/70/EY) 
• COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2018/1108 of 7 May 2018 supplementing Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regulatory technical standards on the criteria for the appointment of central contact points for electronic money issuers and payment service providers and with rules on their functions

Finland has used the possibility provided by the fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive to require foreign payment service providers and issuers of electronic money providing services to Finland, to appoint a central contact point (Chapter 3, section 14 of the AML Act).

• Final report on Joint draft regulatory technical standards on the criteria for determining the circumstances in which the appointment of a central contact point pursuant to Article 45(9) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 is appropriate and the functions of the central contact point
• RTS on CCP to strengthen fight against financial crime
• COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2019/758 of 31 January 2019 supplementing Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to regulatory technical standards for the minimum action and the type of additional measures credit and financial institutions must take to mitigate money laundering and terrorist financing risk in certain third countries (C(2019) 646 final)
• RTS on the implementation of group wide AML/CFT policies in third countries

Laws and regulation

• Act on Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (444/2017) (in Finnish)
• Act on Financial Intelligence Unit  (445/2017) (in Finnish)
• Act on the Bank and Payment Accounts Control System (571/2019) (in Finnish)
• Act on Virtual Currency Providers (572/2019) (in Finnish)
• Act on Financial Supervisory Authority (878/2008) (in Finnish)
• Government Decree on measures for customer due diligence and money laundering and terrorist financing risk factors (929/2021) (in Finnish)
• Government Decree on Important Public Positions within the Meaning of the Act on Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (610/2019) (in Finnish)
• Penal Code (39/1889) (in Finnish)
  • Chapter 32 (Money laundering offences)
  • Chapter 34 a (Terrorist offences)
  • Chapter 46 (International financial sanctions, regulation offences) 
• Credit Institutions Act  (610/2014) (unofficial translation)
• Investment Firms Act chapter 12, section 3 (747/2012) (in Finnish)
• Mutual Funds Act, chapter 26, section 15 (213/2019) (in Finnish)
• Act on Payment Institutions, section 39 (297/2010) (in Finnish)
• Act on the Book-entry System and Clearing Operations (348/2017) (in Finnish)
• Act on the Freezing of Funds with a View to Combating Terrorism (325/2013) (in Finnish)
• Act on the Fulfilment of Certain Obligations of Finland as a Member of the United Nations and of the European Union (659/1967) (unofficial translation)
• Decree of the Ministry of Finance on reports to be appended to an application for authorisation by a credit institution, a branch of a foreign credit institution in Finland or the central institution of an amalgamation of deposit banks, and to an application for the establishment of a branch abroad (697/2014) (in Finnish)
• Decree of the Ministry of Finance on the Information to be Appended to the Authorisation Application of an Investment Firm, the Authorisation Application of a Branch of a Third-Country Investment Firm, and the Application for a Permit to Establish a Branch of an Investment Firm in a Third Country (234/2014) (in Finnish)
• Decree of the Ministry of Finance on the Information to be Appended to the Authorisation Application of a Payment Institution (1040/2017) (in Finnish)

Regulations and guidelines

Regulations and guidelines 7/2021 Money laundering and terrorist financing risk factors

Regulations and guidelines 14/2021 Internal Governance (available only in Finnish and Swedish.)

The regulations and guidelines of Standard 2.4  were prepared in accordance with the Anti-Money Laundering Act that entered into force on 1 August 2008 and provisions issued under the Act. Please note that the regulations and guidelines have not been completely updated, as they do not take account of the amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act that entered into force on 3 July 2017 (444/2017), or other provisions that were repealed or issued in connection with the overall reform of the Act, or the Act on amending the AML Act (406/2018) and other related acts that entered into force on 5 June 2018 and 1 May 2019. 

Draft for regulations and guidelines concerning the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing

The Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) is inviting comments on its regulations and guidelines concerning the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CFT).

The objective of the regulations and guidelines is to provide entities supervised by the FIN-FSA with interpretations and recommendations on the application of AML/CFT regulation. The regulations and guidelines seek to guide supervised entities in taking proportionate and risk-based actions against money laundering and terrorist financing in areas where legislation does not provide adequate guidance. A further intention is to harmonise and improve the effectiveness of application of regulation concerning the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.

The regulations and guidelines subject to the consultation will repeal the FIN-FSA Standard 2.4 Customer due diligence - Prevention of money laundering, terrorist financing and market abuse, the FIN-FSA statement 2/2016 Customer due diligence and banks’ procedure, and the FIN-FSA statement 27/2020 Simplified customer due diligence procedures for private road maintenance associations and public water area maintenance associations.

Commentators are requested to note that, in preparing the regulations and guidelines, the objective was to integrate the amendments proposed in Government bill 236/2021 concerning the amendment of the Act on Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing and sections 3 and 20 b of the Act on the Financial Supervisory Authority. New provisions proposed in the Government bill as well as textual changes have been highlighted in the text to clarify where a proposed provision is concerned, instead of valid legislation.

The request for consultation has been published at Lausuntopalvelu.fi (in Finnish). Comments are requested to be submitted via Lausuntopalvelu.fi at the latest on 31.3.2022.

Draft - Regulations and guidelines 1/2022

Standard 2.4

Customer due diligence – prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism