AML training under section 6 GwG: what is required

The Money Laundering Act (Geldwäschegesetz, GwG) addresses "obliged entities", listed exhaustively in section 2(1). They include credit, financial services and payment institutions, certain insurers and fund management companies, but also non-financial businesses: estate agents, dealers in goods, art intermediaries, gambling operators, and lawyers, notaries, tax advisers and auditors for certain transactions.

Not every duty applies equally. Dealers in goods, for example, must set up risk management with internal safeguards under section 4 GwG only under certain conditions, in particular for cash transactions above a statutory threshold. It is therefore worth clarifying first whether, and to what extent, an organisation is obliged.

Section 6(1) requires appropriate business- and customer-related internal safeguards to manage and mitigate the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing. Measures are appropriate if they match the risk situation of the individual obliged entity and cover it sufficiently. Paragraph 2 lists examples of what this includes.

Number 6 names the initial and ongoing informing of employees about typologies and current methods of money laundering and terrorist financing and about the relevant rules and duties, including data protection provisions. Three requirements follow: information starts on joining, it continues, and besides recognising suspicious patterns it covers the law and data protection.

Closely related is section 6(2) no. 5: checking employees' reliability. Under the Act's definitions, an employee is reliable if, among other things, they can be trusted to observe the duties under the GwG carefully. Someone who does not know the duties can hardly offer that assurance.

Content follows the entity's own risk assessment under section 5. An estate agent needs different examples from a payment institution, an art dealer different ones from a tax practice. Textbook cases are useful but only work once they are applied to the entity's own business.

The Act says "ongoing" but sets no cycle. Supervisors generally expect regular repetition and adjustment when the law, typologies or the business change. Many obliged entities train annually and add event-driven units.

Those to be informed are employees whose work is relevant to compliance — not only the compliance team but above all people with customer contact and transaction responsibility. The money laundering reporting officer (section 7) needs deeper qualification.

Supervisory authorities inspect internal safeguards and ask for evidence of training. Useful are a training concept linked to the risk assessment, dated content, participation records with an assessment result and a plan for ongoing information. Breaches of the duties on internal safeguards can be pursued as administrative offences under section 56 GwG.

At EU level, AML law is being restructured: under its Article 90, Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 will largely apply from 10 July 2027 and replace much of national law; it too contains requirements on staff training. Until then the GwG remains decisive.

This article explains the law in general terms and is not legal advice. For any individual case, the official text in its current version prevails; if in doubt, consult a lawyer, your data protection officer or the competent supervisory authority.