At the Austrian Financial Market Authority’s (FMA) seventh conference on compliance, money laundering prevention and sanctions supervision, Executive Board member Oliver Schütz stressed that digital access must not weaken consumer protection. He also outlined how the regulator assesses money laundering and sanctions risks together.
Information must remain understandable, products must match customers’ needs and sales processes must be fair as apps and artificial intelligence play a greater role in distribution. Financial fraud caused around EUR 115 million in losses in 2025, with criminals increasingly using social engineering to induce customers to authorize payments themselves. Prevention needs to combine consumer education and technical safeguards with firms’ early detection of suspicious payment flows and fraud patterns.
Having taken on financial sanctions supervision, the FMA combines data analysis, ongoing supervision and joint onsite inspections to target exposed areas. Particular attention goes to international business relationships involving higher risk countries or complex ownership structures, and crypto transfers whose origins and recipients are difficult to trace. The new European framework and the Anti-Money Laundering Authority aim to align standards for identifying beneficial owners and checking the source of funds.