On 30 May 2024, the Council of the European Union adopted several regulations to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Among other things, this package of measures set a ceiling for cash payments of 10,000 euros.

The EU-wide cash limit, which comes into force in 2027, excludes transactions between private individuals, if none of the parties involved trade professionally with the object of sale. The individual member states have the option of implementing lower thresholds, provided that legitimate objectives of public interest are targeted. In Germany, the only current obligation is to show proof of identity for amounts over 10,000 euros to record where the money originally came from.

In addition to the cash ceiling, national financial investigation units (in Germany: Zoll) will be given more powers to better analyze and detect suspicious transactions. A new European authority (Anti-Money Laundering Authority, AMLA for short) will also be established to support the national supervisory authorities and better coordinate the exchange of information between them. The authority, which will be based in Frankfurt, is expected to begin its activities as early as mid-2025. Further information on the AMLA can be found here.

Source: Council of the EU, data.consilium.europa.eu, Tagesschau (in German)