EBA calls on financial institutions and supervisors to provide access to the EU’s financial system

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a statement addressed to both financial institutions and supervisors to ensure they make every effort to provide access for Ukrainian refugees to at least basic financial products and services. In the statement, the EBA sets out how its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) guidelines apply in the current context, and how financial institutions can adapt their AML/CFT measures to provide a pragmatic and proportionate response to the compliance challenges they face. It also clarifies what financial institutions and supervisors can do to protect vulnerable persons from abuse by criminals and calls on financial institutions to ensure that compliance with the EU’s restrictive measures regime does not lead to unwarranted de-risking.

Note to the editors

This statement follows up on the EBA’s communication of 11 March 2022, which called on financial institutions to ensure compliance with sanctions against Russia following the invasion of Ukraine and to facilitate access to basic payment accounts for refugees.