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AML without unnecessary uncertainty
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80 articles
AML duties in Czechia: where to start
First steps for an obliged entity: legal scope, customer measures, responsibilities and demonstrable records.
Read guide →Getting startedAm I an obliged entity? Activities matter, not just a business ID
Map actual services to the Czech AML Act and identify conditions, authorisations and exemptions.
Read guide →Getting startedCompany, sole trader and customer: distinct AML roles
Distinguish the obliged entity, its staff and the customer asked for documents by a bank or adviser.
Read guide →Getting startedBusiness relationships and occasional transactions
Distinguish continuing cooperation from an individual service and identify when customer measures are required.
Read guide →Getting startedAML monetary thresholds: value, currency and related transactions
Separate identification, due diligence and obliged-entity thresholds, including currency conversion and aggregation.
Read guide →Getting startedAML and cash: different statutes, different limits
Separate AML measures from restrictions on large cash payments and use the correct aggregation rules.
Read guide →Getting startedWho is responsible for AML in a company?
Assign management, contact-person, staff and supplier roles without leaving a gap before a transaction.
Read guide →Getting startedFAÚ contact person: when and how to notify
Designation, notification exemptions, current deadlines and XML submission through a data box.
Read guide →Getting startedWhat FAÚ examines and how to evidence your procedure
Prepare demonstrable customer measures, risk reasoning and evidence that internal procedures are used.
Read guide →Getting startedWhat AML software can do and what people must assess
Limits of forms, registers, screening and risk scores in actual identification and due diligence.
Read guide →Identification and due diligenceIdentification and customer due diligence are different
Identity, purpose, beneficial ownership and funds: assign the correct customer measures.
Read guide →Identification and due diligenceNew customers: from initial information to documented due diligence
A practical onboarding timeline from the legal trigger through verification, decision and records.
Read guide →Identification and due diligenceRemote identification: lawful options and their conditions
BankID, document copies with a verification payment, qualified signatures and reliance are distinct methods.
Read guide →Identification and due diligenceIndividuals and sole traders: which information is needed?
Statutory personal data, additional business details and the distinction between identification and due diligence context.
Read guide →Identification and due diligenceLegal entities and their representatives
Four separate checks: company existence, personal identity, representation authority and beneficial ownership.
Read guide →Identification and due diligenceDocument copies: when, why and how to keep them secure
Distinguish mandatory copying, justified copying and unnecessary accumulation of identity documents.
Read guide →Identification and due diligencePurpose and intended nature of the relationship: what to establish
Understand why the client needs the service, how the relationship will work and how to recognise later departures.
Read guide →Identification and due diligenceSource of funds and source of wealth: two different questions
Distinguish the funds used in a particular transaction from the creation of the client’s wider wealth, and assess supporting documents.
Read guide →Identification and due diligenceSimplified and enhanced due diligence: evidence determines risk
When checks may be simplified and when additional information, verification and approval are legally required.
Read guide →Identification and due diligenceClient updates and refusal: changes and missing cooperation
Ongoing checks, requests for missing information and deciding when a transaction or relationship cannot proceed.
Read guide →Beneficial ownershipBeneficial owners: establish first, then verify
Distinguish identifying a beneficial owner, verifying identity and substantiating why the person owns or controls the company.
Read guide →Beneficial ownershipThe closed public beneficial ownership register: obtaining an extract
Current access for obliged entities, client-supplied extracts and handling non-public beneficial ownership data.
Read guide →Beneficial ownershipARES, the commercial register and the beneficial ownership register
Combine basic company data, representative authority and ultimate ownership without creating false assurance.
Read guide →Beneficial ownershipBeneficial owners of a simple Czech s.r.o.
Verify direct shareholders, the greater-than-25% threshold and other forms of decisive influence.
Read guide →Beneficial ownershipMulti-level ownership: multiply shares, assess control separately
Trace ownership to natural persons without confusing a calculated percentage with decisive influence.
Read guide →Beneficial ownershipAssociations and nonprofits: ownership without ordinary shares
Distinguish associations, foundations and institutes, statutory presumptions and limited exceptions for public entities.
Read guide →Beneficial ownershipTrusts and foreign arrangements: map every relevant role
Establish settlors, trustees, beneficiaries and other persons in structures without ordinary company shares.
Read guide →Beneficial ownershipBeneficial ownership discrepancies: the current section 15a procedure
Respond to differences between established ownership and register data, distinguishing correction, notification and suspicion.
Read guide →Beneficial ownershipUnclear structures: evidence and incomplete due diligence
Document missing links, reasonable verification steps and conclusions without inventing a beneficial owner.
Read guide →Beneficial ownershipA company’s own beneficial ownership records and enforcement dispute
Distinguish statutory ownership-record and registration rules from the documented judicial developments in 2026.
Read guide →Sanctions and matchesSanctions screening in Czechia: Czech, EU and UN sources and the OFAC context
How to choose sanctions sources for Czech business, distinguish legal regimes and interpret screening results.
Read guide →Sanctions and matchesA name match: how to establish whether it is your client
A practical procedure for distinguishing a false match, confirmed identity and an unresolved sanctions alert.
Read guide →Sanctions and matchesNo match found: what the result actually means
How to interpret a negative sanctions result and recognise incomplete data, incorrect queries and restrictions outside lists.
Read guide →Sanctions and matchesThe Czech national sanctions list
Where to find the original Czech list, what to read in an entry and how to handle a change in its data structure.
Read guide →Sanctions and matchesThe EU consolidated financial sanctions list
The content and limits of the EU consolidated list, its relationship to legal instruments and file-freshness checks.
Read guide →Sanctions and matchesUN sanctions and their implementation in Czechia
How to read the UN consolidated list and establish the measures applicable to Czech business.
Read guide →Sanctions and matchesOFAC for Czech businesses: when a closer assessment is needed
US connections, different lists and banking restrictions when assessing an OFAC alert.
Read guide →Sanctions and matchesOwnership and control by a designated person
Evidence for sanctions analysis of companies without their own list entry.
Read guide →Sanctions and matchesSectoral, trade and other sanctions outside name lists
When goods, services, territories and end use require assessment beyond name screening.
Read guide →Sanctions and matchesHow to retain and repeat sanctions screening
Records, historical versions and triggers for repeated sanctions screening.
Read guide →PEPs and country riskPolitically exposed persons: direct PEPs and persons connected to them
Recognising prominent public functions and connected persons under Czech AML law.
Read guide →PEPs and country riskHow to establish PEP status and handle an “I don’t know” answer
Combining declarations, sources and proportionate PEP investigations.
Read guide →PEPs and country riskFATF, the EU country list and sanctions: three different perspectives
Distinguishing FATF assessments, the EU legal list and specific sanctions regimes.
Read guide →PEPs and country riskClose persons and other connections to PEPs
Assessing family and business connections without automatically extending status to every acquaintance.
Read guide →PEPs and country riskFormer PEPs: assessing a change of function
The minimum period and individual assessment of residual risk after a prominent function ends.
Read guide →PEPs and country riskWhat PEP status means for a particular transaction
Funds and wealth origins, enhanced monitoring and accountable approval for PEP transactions.
Read guide →PEPs and country riskThe Czech national list of PEP functions
Using FAÚ’s prominent-functions list without confusing it with a database of names.
Read guide →PEPs and country riskFATF increased monitoring and calls for action
Differences between FATF’s two statements and their use in risk assessment.
Read guide →PEPs and country riskEU high-risk third countries and entry-into-force dates
Checking the effective EU list and applying statutory measures to geographic connections.
Read guide →PEPs and country riskCountries of the client, funds origin and transaction
Assessing actual geographic connections rather than a blanket citizenship score.
Read guide →Processes and privacyRisk assessment and internal policies: what your business needs
Applicability, written form and exceptions for risk assessment and internal policies.
Read guide →Processes and privacyAML and GDPR: purposes, roles and proportionate data scope
AML records’ legal basis, transparency and provider roles without blanket consent.
Read guide →Processes and privacyHow to retain and securely transfer AML evidence
Statutory records, retention triggers and secure export from temporary tools.
Read guide →Processes and privacyBuilding an obliged entity’s risk assessment
A practical map of clients, products, channels and geography with measures matching actual activities.
Read guide →Processes and privacyInternal policies: adapting an outline to your practice
Turning an outline into usable staff procedures with responsibilities, escalation and evidence.
Read guide →Processes and privacyAML training: content and records
Who needs training, when to repeat it and how to demonstrate attendance and content.
Read guide →Processes and privacySuspicious transactions: internal escalation and cooperation
How to escalate specific suspicion, preserve the timeline and respond to FAÚ requests.
Read guide →Processes and privacySuspicious-transaction reporting and professional differences
Recipient, timing and content of reports, including professional-chamber routes.
Read guide →Processes and privacyPostponing a client instruction and preventing disclosure
Postponement conditions, the 24-hour starting point and distinction from an internal pause.
Read guide →Processes and privacyAML service providers, DPA, incidents and exit
Provider roles, processor contracts, personal-data breaches and taking over files at exit.
Read guide →Professional scenariosExternal accountants: onboarding a new customer
Accept an accounting customer, distinguish a relationship from a one-off service and document identification and due diligence.
Read guide →Professional scenariosReal estate intermediary: selling a property
Identify whom to check in a property sale and connect identification, price, financing and the transaction decision.
Read guide →Professional scenariosFor customers: why AML information is requested
Understand document requests, secure delivery and how to resolve an unclear requirement.
Read guide →Professional scenariosReal estate leases: when AML applies
Monthly lease thresholds, intermediary and owner roles, and changes in contractual consideration.
Read guide →Professional scenariosDevelopers and own-account property trading
Assess developer AML duties, distinguish selling from construction and letting, and check buyer changes.
Read guide →Professional scenariosExternal accountants and in-house accounting employees
Distinguish external services, employees and shared accounting within a group.
Read guide →Professional scenariosTax advisers and auditors: similarities and differences
Common customer checks and professional exceptions in the Czech AML regime.
Read guide →Professional scenariosLawyers and notaries: which activities fall under AML
Listed services, custody, protected legal information and reporting through the professional chamber.
Read guide →Professional scenariosArt, precious metals and other selected transactions
Different categories for art, cultural objects, precious materials, used goods and cash transactions.
Read guide →Professional scenariosOrdinary businesses and foreign partners
Distinguish your AML status, customer-information requests and separate sanctions duties.
Read guide →Changes and evidenceAML today and from July 2027: two separate layers
Current Czech duties and future AMLR application; distinguish adoption, entry into force and application.
Read guide →Changes and evidenceHow to recognise current AML guidance and legal sources
Check applicability, scope, exact provisions and review quality rather than a pages date.
Read guide →Changes and evidenceReading an eAML protocol and its limits
Understand timestamps, sources, matches and human conclusions rather than treating a report as completed AML.
Read guide →Changes and evidenceAMLR 2024/1624: adopted rules and further specifications
The adopted EU act, technical standards, guidance and national links have different legal significance.
Read guide →Changes and evidenceAMLA and supervision: who is affected
Direct European supervision of selected financial entities and implications for smaller Czech obliged entities.
Read guide →Changes and evidenceTransition checklist for a smaller obliged entity
Plan process, data and supplier changes without prematurely replacing current duties.
Read guide →Changes and evidenceHow sanctions-list changes affect an earlier check
Historical evidence, current screening and assessment of changes are separate file elements.
Read guide →Changes and evidenceChanges in customer and beneficial-owner information
Record representatives, ownership and purpose changes while verifying them and preserving earlier evidence.
Read guide →Changes and evidenceEditorial standards and corrections
Distinguish verified legal claims, practical recommendations and uncertainty, and correct errors without losing history.
Read guide →Changes and evidenceLimits of templates and online tools
Forms, list searches and generated protocols support individual steps, whose scope must remain clear.
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