Lithuania’s finmin: Vilnius could host EU’s anti-money laundering authority

Lithuania is willing to host the European Union’s (EU) Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) in Vilnius, Finance Minister Gintare Skaiste has said after a meeting with Paschal Donohoe, Minister for Finance for Ireland and President of the Eurogroup.

The creation of this new authority is a core element of a package of legislative proposals presented by the European Commission with the aim to strengthen the EU's anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing (AML/CFT) rules.
“Lithuania has expressed its ambition to host such an authority in Vilnius… We have a sizeable network of competences, we have many fintech companies… we have competent people ready to work for such an authority. Therefore, we are among a handful of countries in this Nordic and Visegrad region, which have expressed a wish to host such an authority,” she said during a news conference in Vilnius on Wednesday.

Donohoe also held meetings with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte.