Recital 80

(80) Cross-border correspondent relationships with a third country’s respondent institution are characterised by their on-going, repetitive nature. Moreover, not all cross-border correspondent banking services present the same level of money laundering and terrorist financing risks. Therefore, the intensity of the enhanced due diligence measures should be determined by application of the principles of the risk-based approach. However, the risk-based approach should not be applied when interacting with a third country’s respondent institutions that have no physical presence where they are created, or with unregistered and unlicensed entities providing crypto-asset services. Given the high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing inherent in shell institutions, credit institutions and financial institutions should refrain from entertaining any correspondent relationship with such shell institutions, as well as with counterparts in third countries that allow their accounts to be used by shell institutions. To avoid misuse of the Union’s financial system to provide unregulated services, crypto-assets service providers should also ensure that their accounts are not used by nested exchanges and should have in place policies and procedures to detect any such attempt.

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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.