5AMLD - 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive: Prepaid Cards

After 4MLD cut the monthly transaction limit on prepaid cards to €250 (a measure to combat terrorist financing), 5MLD – 5th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive sets an even lower limit of €150 – this limit also applies to the amount which can be stored on the cards. Similarly, online transaction limits are reduced to €50. Christopher Baines the Head of Compliance at Pockit said: “the directive is definitely a step in the right direction, it reduces the number of options for criminals”.  Prepaid cards issued outside the EU are now prohibited unless they were issued in a territory enforcing legislation equivalent to the EU’s AML/CFT and KYC standards. Obliged entities must review the way they handle prepaid card payments, and put mechanisms in place to identify (and refuse) transactions using cards from non-EU sources – which may involve significant revision of existing systems and procedures.

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Originally published September 6, 2018, updated May 5, 2022