Recital 103

(103) In the case of obliged entities that are legal persons, breaches of AML/CFT requirements occur following action by, or under the responsibility of the natural persons who have the power to direct its activities, including through agents, distributors or other persons acting on behalf of the obliged entity. In order to ensure that supervisory action in response to such breaches is effective, the obliged entity should also be held liable for actions taken by those natural persons, whether carried out intentionally or negligently. Without prejudice to the liability of legal persons in criminal proceedings, any intent to derive a benefit for the obliged entity from breaches points to wider failures in the internal policies, procedures and controls of the obliged entity to prevent money laundering, its predicate offences and terrorist financing. Such failures undermine the obliged entity’s role as gatekeeper of the Union’s financial system. Any intent to derive benefit from a breach of AML/CFT requirement should therefore be taken as an aggravating circumstance.

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Source: EUR-Lex CELLAR · retrieved 2026-09-04 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.