Belgium
Overview
Belgium’s current national framework remains centred on the AML Law of 18 September 2017 and implementing/supervisory rules including the NBB Regulation of 21 November 2017, alongside directly applicable EU measures.
The federal UBO Register records beneficial owners of companies, associations, foundations, trusts and similar arrangements, while obliged entities separately perform beneficial-owner identification through CDD.
Suspicious transaction reports are submitted to CTIF-CFI. NBB-supervised institutions apply risk-based governance, CDD, ongoing monitoring and reporting controls under the 2017 law and NBB regulation.
Compliance Calendar2
Requirement
Suspicious facts / transactions disclosure to CTIF-CFI
Authority / Report toCTIF-CFI / CFI Belgium
Deadline / triggerImmediately under the 2017 Law. Where the report concerns a transaction, the preventive framework expects reporting before execution where possible; statutory exceptions permit immediate post-execution reporting in defined circumstances.
Requirement
- Subject scope
- Obliged entities and professions listed in the Belgian Law of 18 September 2017.
- Trigger
- Facts, funds or transactions where the reporting entity knows, suspects or has reasonable grounds to suspect money laundering, terrorist financing or related predicate circumstances under the law.
- Filing channel
- Use the reporting arrangements and electronic declaration facilities prescribed by CTIF-CFI for the relevant reporting entity.
Impact
- Consequences of non-compliance
- Non-reporting or late reporting can lead to administrative/supervisory sanctions under the 2017 Law; exact amount depends on the entity, breach and sanctioning authority.
- Enforcement authority
- CTIF-CFI receives disclosures; competent supervisory/regulatory/disciplinary authorities enforce compliance.
- Operational impact
- Reporting workflows should enable pre-execution escalation where feasible and immediate reporting once the legal suspicion test is met.
Requirement
Institution-wide ML/TF risk assessment and AML policy
Authority / Report toRelevant competent supervisor; NBB for supervised financial institutions within its perimeter
Deadline / triggerOngoing. Maintain risk assessment, policies, procedures and controls; no universal external filing date is asserted.
Requirement
- Subject scope
- Obliged entities under the 2017 AML Law, subject to sector-specific supervisor rules.
- Trigger
- Continuous operation of the institution and changes in its business, customers, products, transactions, channels and geographic exposure.
- Filing channel
- Internal governance and documentation; provide information to the supervisor when required.
Impact
- Consequences of non-compliance
- Weaknesses can trigger remediation, administrative sanctions and other supervisory measures; consequences are authority- and breach-specific.
- Enforcement authority
- NBB / FSMA / FPS Economy / professional bodies or other competent supervisor depending on the obliged entity.
- Operational impact
- Maintain a documented risk-based framework that can be evidenced to the competent supervisor.
Authorities & FIU3
FATF Assessment
Measures how fully the jurisdiction has implemented FATF’s technical requirements. It does not measure practical effectiveness.
Measures whether the AML/CFT system achieves its intended results in practice. Follow-up reports do not normally replace these ratings.
Explore 40 FATF RecommendationsSee every Technical Compliance rating and what it means.+
Explore 11 Immediate OutcomesSee how FATF rates whether the AML/CFT system works in practice.+
Regulatory Timeline39
In a public notice released on 25 August 2026 under Article 93 §2(1) of the Belgian AML Act, the National Bank of Belgium stated that Wise Europe SA had not complied with an order dated 8 July 2025 requiring conformity by 31 March 2026. The underlying order concerned group information sharing, customer and beneficial-owner identification, customer due diligence, and analysis of atypical transactions (Articles 13 §1, 23, 26, 27, 35 §1 and 45). The notice documents non-compliance with the earlier order, not a new fine; the original 2025 order was not supplied.
In its 25 August 2026 publication under Article 98/1 in conjunction with Article 135 §3 of Belgium's AML Act, the NBB recorded material shortcomings in Wise Europe SA due diligence involving group information sharing (Article 13 §1), identity and beneficial ownership verification (Articles 23, 26 and 27), customer and occasional-transaction due diligence (Article 35 §1), and unusual-transaction analysis (Article 45). Taking account of steps already taken by Wise Europe SA, the Bank disclosed an administrative remedial order pursuant to Article 93 §1(1) to ensure full compliance by 31 January 2027. The published notice does not specify the underlying order's signature date and does not disclose a fine.
FATF revised Recommendation 16 to standardise payment information and strengthen fraud/error controls in cross-border payments.
Current relationship. Direct FATF membership and any listed regional assessment network participation are current profile relationships only. The GLOBAL milestone does not prove membership or domestic implementation on the event date; those remain LOCAL/STATUS evidence.
FATF Global Network ↗FATF amended Recommendation 1 and related interpretive material to strengthen proportionality and simplified measures under the risk-based approach.
Current relationship. Direct FATF membership and any listed regional assessment network participation are current profile relationships only. The GLOBAL milestone does not prove membership or domestic implementation on the event date; those remain LOCAL/STATUS evidence.
FATF Global Network ↗FATF revised Recommendations 4, 30, 31 and 38 and related interpretive material to make asset recovery a stronger operational priority, expand tools to trace and confiscate criminal property and improve domestic and international cooperation.
Current relationship. Direct FATF membership and any listed regional assessment network participation are current profile relationships only. The GLOBAL milestone does not prove membership or domestic implementation on the event date; those remain LOCAL/STATUS evidence.
FATF Global Network ↗At its February 2023 Plenary FATF revised Recommendation 25 and its Interpretive Note to strengthen transparency and beneficial-ownership requirements for trusts and similar legal arrangements, complementing the 2022 strengthening of Recommendation 24 for legal persons.
Current relationship. Direct FATF membership and any listed regional assessment network participation are current profile relationships only. The GLOBAL milestone does not prove membership or domestic implementation on the event date; those remain LOCAL/STATUS evidence.
FATF Global Network ↗From 1 May 2022, covered Belgian virtual-currency exchange and custody-wallet service providers became subject to registration with the FSMA under the national AML/CFT framework.
FATF strengthened Recommendation 24 on beneficial ownership transparency for legal persons.
Current relationship. Direct FATF membership and any listed regional assessment network participation are current profile relationships only. The GLOBAL milestone does not prove membership or domestic implementation on the event date; those remain LOCAL/STATUS evidence.
FATF Global Network ↗FATF amended Recommendations 1 and 2 and their Interpretive Notes so countries and covered private-sector entities must identify, assess and mitigate risks of breaches, non-implementation or evasion of proliferation-related targeted financial sanctions.
Current relationship. Direct FATF membership and any listed regional assessment network participation are current profile relationships only. The GLOBAL milestone does not prove membership or domestic implementation on the event date; those remain LOCAL/STATUS evidence.
FATF Global Network ↗The Basel Committee revised its ML/TF risk-management guidelines to add principles for information exchange and cooperation between prudential and AML/CFT supervisors in authorisation, ongoing supervision and enforcement.
A Basel supervisory publication does not become domestic law merely because it is GLOBAL. National adoption, supervisory use or incorporation must be evidenced by a LOCAL milestone or source.
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision ↗FATF adopted detailed implementation requirements for virtual assets and VASPs in June 2019, including the application of wire-transfer information requirements commonly described as the Travel Rule. This operationalised the virtual-asset perimeter introduced through the 2018 Recommendation 15 revision.
Current relationship. Direct FATF membership and any listed regional assessment network participation are current profile relationships only. The GLOBAL milestone does not prove membership or domestic implementation on the event date; those remain LOCAL/STATUS evidence.
FATF Global Network ↗In October 2018 FATF revised Recommendation 15 and added the definitions of virtual asset and virtual asset service provider, formally bringing virtual-asset activity into the global AML/CFT standards architecture. Detailed implementation requirements followed in 2019.
Current relationship. Direct FATF membership and any listed regional assessment network participation are current profile relationships only. The GLOBAL milestone does not prove membership or domestic implementation on the event date; those remain LOCAL/STATUS evidence.
FATF Global Network ↗The federal UBO register centralises beneficial-owner information for companies, associations, foundations, trusts and similar arrangements.
The NBB regulation operationalises governance, risk assessment, CDD, monitoring and internal-control expectations for supervised financial institutions.
Belgium adopted the Anti-Money Laundering Law of 18 September 2017, a core national preventive AML/CFT instrument.
The Basel Committee issued Sound management of risks related to money laundering and financing of terrorism, superseding its 2001 CDD and 2004 consolidated KYC papers and integrating ML/TF risk management with prudential supervisory expectations.
A Basel supervisory publication does not become domestic law merely because it is GLOBAL. National adoption, supervisory use or incorporation must be evidenced by a LOCAL milestone or source.
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision ↗FATF adopted a consolidated revised set of 40 Recommendations integrating AML, CFT and proliferation-financing safeguards.
Current relationship. Direct FATF membership and any listed regional assessment network participation are current profile relationships only. The GLOBAL milestone does not prove membership or domestic implementation on the event date; those remain LOCAL/STATUS evidence.
FATF Global Network ↗Resolution 1737 imposed binding measures concerning Iran’s proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities, including an asset freeze on designated individuals and entities. Together with the DPRK regime, it forms a foundational UN counter-proliferation targeted-financial-sanctions architecture.
UN Members agree to accept and carry out Security Council decisions. This current Charter relationship is not proof of the jurisdiction’s domestic implementation, nor a claim about its membership status on the historical event date.
UN Charter · Article 25 ↗Following the DPRK nuclear test, Resolution 1718 imposed binding sanctions including an asset freeze on designated persons and entities connected to the nuclear programme. It became a central UN targeted-financial-sanctions pillar for counter-proliferation financing.
UN Members agree to accept and carry out Security Council decisions. This current Charter relationship is not proof of the jurisdiction’s domestic implementation, nor a claim about its membership status on the historical event date.
UN Charter · Article 25 ↗FATF added a ninth Special Recommendation addressing cash couriers and cross-border movement of currency.
Current relationship. Direct FATF membership and any listed regional assessment network participation are current profile relationships only. The GLOBAL milestone does not prove membership or domestic implementation on the event date; those remain LOCAL/STATUS evidence.
FATF Global Network ↗Resolution 1540 requires all States to adopt and enforce laws and domestic controls to prevent non-State actors from acquiring or using weapons of mass destruction and related materials. It forms a binding global legal pillar of the proliferation-financing control environment later reflected in FATF CPF standards.
UN Members agree to accept and carry out Security Council decisions. This current Charter relationship is not proof of the jurisdiction’s domestic implementation, nor a claim about its membership status on the historical event date.
UN Charter · Article 25 ↗The UN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention against Corruption on 31 October 2003. UNCAC addresses prevention of money laundering, laundering of corruption proceeds, confiscation and a dedicated asset-recovery framework; the Convention entered into force globally on 14 December 2005.
Current UN depositary relationship to 2003 UN Convention against Corruption. This is not a claim that the jurisdiction was already a Party on the GLOBAL event date; the national accession/ratification date is a separate LOCAL/STATUS fact.
UN Treaty Collection ↗FATF comprehensively revised its AML/CFT Recommendations, strengthening preventive measures and extending coverage.
Current relationship. Direct FATF membership and any listed regional assessment network participation are current profile relationships only. The GLOBAL milestone does not prove membership or domestic implementation on the event date; those remain LOCAL/STATUS evidence.
FATF Global Network ↗The Basel Committee issued Customer due diligence for banks, setting minimum supervisory expectations for customer acceptance, identification, ongoing monitoring and risk management. It became an influential global banking KYC/CDD benchmark and was later reflected in FATF standards.
A Basel supervisory publication does not become domestic law merely because it is GLOBAL. National adoption, supervisory use or incorporation must be evidenced by a LOCAL milestone or source.
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision ↗FATF expanded its standards to terrorist financing through eight Special Recommendations.
Current relationship. Direct FATF membership and any listed regional assessment network participation are current profile relationships only. The GLOBAL milestone does not prove membership or domestic implementation on the event date; those remain LOCAL/STATUS evidence.
FATF Global Network ↗Resolution 1373 requires all States to prevent and suppress terrorist financing, criminalise the provision or collection of funds for terrorist acts, freeze terrorist assets without delay and prohibit making funds or financial services available to terrorists and related entities.
UN Members agree to accept and carry out Security Council decisions. This current Charter relationship is not proof of the jurisdiction’s domestic implementation, nor a claim about its membership status on the historical event date.
UN Charter · Article 25 ↗The Palermo Convention was adopted on 15 November 2000 and broadened the international money-laundering framework beyond drug proceeds through criminalisation and preventive measures tied to transnational organised crime. It entered into force globally on 29 September 2003.
Current UN depositary relationship to 2000 Palermo Convention. This is not a claim that the jurisdiction was already a Party on the GLOBAL event date; the national accession/ratification date is a separate LOCAL/STATUS fact.
UN Treaty Collection ↗The UN General Assembly adopted the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism on 9 December 1999, creating the treaty framework for criminalising terrorist financing and international cooperation. It entered into force globally on 10 April 2002.
Current UN depositary relationship to 1999 Terrorist Financing Convention. This is not a claim that the jurisdiction was already a Party on the GLOBAL event date; the national accession/ratification date is a separate LOCAL/STATUS fact.
UN Treaty Collection ↗Resolution 1267 imposed an assets freeze and other targeted sanctions in the Taliban context and created the Security Council committee that became the foundation of the UN 1267 sanctions architecture. It is a key global precursor to modern terrorist-financing targeted financial sanctions.
UN Members agree to accept and carry out Security Council decisions. This current Charter relationship is not proof of the jurisdiction’s domestic implementation, nor a claim about its membership status on the historical event date.
UN Charter · Article 25 ↗FATF revised the Forty Recommendations to reflect evolving money-laundering methods and countermeasures.
Current relationship. Direct FATF membership and any listed regional assessment network participation are current profile relationships only. The GLOBAL milestone does not prove membership or domestic implementation on the event date; those remain LOCAL/STATUS evidence.
FATF Global Network ↗Representatives of 13 financial intelligence units met in Brussels on 9 June 1995 and founded what became the Egmont Group. The milestone created the operational global network for FIU-to-FIU cooperation and exchange of financial intelligence.
Current profile relationship to the Egmont network. This does not imply membership in 1995; admission history is a separate LOCAL/STATUS fact.
Egmont Group · Member FIUs ↗Historical FinCEN/GAO membership evidence identifies Belgium among the 14 first Egmont Group members; Egmont's official history dates the founding meeting to 9 June 1995.
CTIF-CFI began its activities on 1 December 1993. Recording the operational start separately avoids treating statutory creation and actual FIU operation as the same date.
The Law of 11 January 1993 created CTIF-CFI as Belgium’s financial-intelligence processing unit within the preventive AML system. This restores the institutional origin missing from the prior Timeline.
FATF issued its original Forty Recommendations, establishing the first global AML standard framework.
Current relationship. Direct FATF membership and any listed regional assessment network participation are current profile relationships only. The GLOBAL milestone does not prove membership or domestic implementation on the event date; those remain LOCAL/STATUS evidence.
FATF Global Network ↗FATF records Belgium as a member since 1990.
The G7 established FATF in 1989 to examine and develop measures to combat money laundering. FATF became the central global standard-setting body whose recommendations are implemented through national and regional AML/CFT frameworks.
Current relationship. Direct FATF membership and any listed regional assessment network participation are current profile relationships only. The GLOBAL milestone does not prove membership or domestic implementation on the event date; those remain LOCAL/STATUS evidence.
FATF Global Network ↗The Vienna Convention was adopted on 20 December 1988 and created the first treaty-level international obligation to criminalise laundering conduct linked to drug-trafficking proceeds, alongside confiscation and international-cooperation measures. It entered into force globally on 11 November 1990.
Current UN depositary relationship to 1988 Vienna Convention. This is not a claim that the jurisdiction was already a Party on the GLOBAL event date; the national accession/ratification date is a separate LOCAL/STATUS fact.
UN Treaty Collection ↗The Basel Committee published a Statement of Principles for banks aimed at reducing the risk that banking institutions would be used by criminals or as channels for money laundering. This helped establish the preventive and supervisory side of AML alongside the emerging criminal-law framework.
A Basel supervisory publication does not become domestic law merely because it is GLOBAL. National adoption, supervisory use or incorporation must be evidenced by a LOCAL milestone or source.
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision ↗