Expert article · Management responsibility
Starting as a managing director means inheriting duties you did not design, and from 10 July 2027 one of them may carry your name: Article 11 AMLR requires every obliged entity to name one member of its management body as compliance manager. This article explains the role and what to settle in your first 100 days.
How this fits S+P Compliance. S+P Compliance supports obliged entities with compliance functions as a service and with first-line operations that run to your instructions. This article is background for management and does not replace legal advice in an individual case.
Four points are enough to orient yourself in the first week. The sections that follow add the detail and the references to the norm.
Article 11(1) AMLR requires every obliged entity to name one member of the management body as compliance manager. That person makes sure the policies, procedures and controls match the entity’s risk exposure, are implemented, and are backed by sufficient resources. Where the body decides collectively, the compliance manager prepares and advises.
Article 11(2) requires a separate compliance officer, appointed by the management body at a sufficiently senior level. The officer is the contact point for the authorities and forwards suspicious transaction reports. Removal needs prior notice to the body and information to the supervisor.
The AMLR applies from 10 July 2027, and for football agents and professional football clubs from 10 July 2029 (Article 90). Until then national law governs. In Germany that means section 4(3) GwG for the responsible member of the management level and section 7(1) GwG for the compliance officer.
Find out who is named today, whether resources and reporting lines are documented, and whether the management body expects you to take the role. The plan in this article turns those questions into three phases.
Article 11 is headed “Compliance functions”. It does three things: it puts one member of the management body in charge, it creates a separate operational role below that level, and it sets the conditions both roles need to work.
The obliged entity must name one member of the management body in its management function. That person is responsible for ensuring compliance with the AMLR, with Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 and with administrative acts issued by supervisors. The wording refers to a member of the body, so this is a director or board seat and not a staff position.
The compliance manager makes sure that the entity’s internal policies, procedures and controls match its risk exposure and are put into practice, and that enough human and material resources are provided for that purpose. This person is also the one who receives information about significant or material weaknesses in those policies, procedures and controls.
Under Article 11(6) the compliance manager reports to the management body on a regular basis. Once a year, or more often where needed, a report goes to the body on how the policies, procedures and controls drawn up by the compliance officer are being implemented, and the body is kept informed about the results of any audits. The compliance manager also takes the steps needed to remedy identified deficiencies in good time.
Where the management body is a collective decision-maker, the compliance manager supports and advises it and prepares the decisions that Article 11 refers to.
The management body appoints a compliance officer who holds a sufficiently senior position. This role is responsible for the policies, procedures and controls used in daily practice, including the implementation of targeted financial sanctions, and acts as the contact point for the competent authorities. The compliance officer also forwards suspicious transaction reports to the financial intelligence unit (Article 69(6)). In the German version of the Regulation, Article 11(2) uses the term Geldwäschebeauftragter for this role.
Removal follows a procedure. The management body has to be informed before the compliance officer is removed, and the entity informs the supervisor and states whether the decision relates to the performance of the officer’s tasks. A member of a group may, where its size and low risk justify it, appoint a person who already holds the role at another group company.
Where the nature of the business, its risks and complexity, and the entity’s size justify it, one natural person can perform both functions, and the functions can be combined with others. If the obliged entity’s activities are carried out by only one natural person, that person is responsible for the tasks described in Article 11.
Article 3 defines the obliged entities: credit institutions, financial institutions and a long list of professions and businesses, some of them only for specific activities. The list includes auditors and tax advisers, notaries and lawyers acting in defined transactions, trust and company service providers, estate agents, dealers in precious metals and in high-value goods, gambling providers, crowdfunding service providers, dealers in cultural goods, mortgage and consumer credit intermediaries, investment migration advisers, non-financial mixed holding companies, football agents and professional football clubs. If your company appears on that list, Article 11 concerns you.
Compliance functions are set up at group level as well. They include a group compliance manager and, where the activities carried out at group level justify it, a compliance officer. The decision on the scope of these functions must be documented. If you join a subsidiary, you therefore work within a group structure as well as within your own entity.
German law already names a management-level person. Section 4(3) of the Money Laundering Act (GwG) makes a designated member of the management level responsible for risk management and for compliance with the AML rules, and requires that member to approve the risk analysis and the internal safeguards. Section 7(1) GwG requires the obliged entities it lists to appoint a money laundering reporting officer at management level together with a deputy.
Article 11 AMLR keeps the idea of a responsible board member and spells out more of what that responsibility involves. Which national provisions remain once the Regulation applies depends on how the German legislator adapts the GwG; check the Federal Ministry of Finance for the current status.
Article 90 sets the timetable. The dates below come from the text published in the Official Journal; open items are marked in red.
Until 10 July 2027, national law governs the compliance functions of your entity. For a new managing director the practical consequence is simple: the time until then is a preparation window, not a waiting period.
The table separates the roles that the Regulation describes. In a small entity several of them may sit with one person; the questions stay the same.
| Function | What the AMLR asks | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Management body, management function | Names the compliance manager and appoints the compliance officer. Is informed before the compliance officer is removed. Receives the compliance manager’s reports and approves the internal policies. | Art. 9(2); 11(1), (2), (5), (6) |
| Management body, supervisory function (where one exists) | Is an addressee of the direct and independent reports and warnings of the compliance officer and the audit lead. | Art. 11(5) |
| Compliance manager | Ensures that policies, procedures and controls fit the risk exposure and are implemented; ensures resources; receives information on significant weaknesses; reports regularly and at least once a year; remedies deficiencies in good time; approves procedures and controls at least at this level. | Art. 9(2); 11(1), (6) |
| Compliance officer | Runs policies, procedures and controls day to day, including targeted financial sanctions; is the contact point for the authorities; forwards suspicious transaction reports to the financial intelligence unit; is protected from retaliation and unfair treatment. | Art. 11(2), (4); 69(6) |
| Audit function | An independent audit function tests the policies, procedures and controls; where none exists, an external expert can carry out the test. The person responsible can report directly and independently to the management body. | Art. 9(2)(b); 11(5) |
| Obliged entity | Provides resources, technology and powers; gives everyone involved access to the information they need; informs the supervisor when the compliance officer is removed. | Art. 11(2), (3), (5) |
Each gap below can be checked with documents that already exist or should exist. None of them needs a project before you know where you stand.
Duties tied to a role need a holder. If the management body has not named one of its members, the compliance manager role exists on paper only. A de facto owner of the topic is not a designated member of the management body.
Article 11(1) AMLRThe compliance manager has to make sure that enough human and material resources are provided, and Article 11(3) adds technology and the power to propose measures. A budget line alone does not show that the resources match the risk profile.
Article 11(1) and (3) AMLRThe compliance officer and the audit lead need a direct and independent line to the management body and, where one exists, to its supervisory function. A route that passes through a single director can filter what arrives.
Article 11(5) AMLROne person can hold both functions where the business, its risks and its size justify it. The justification is the part that is easily lost when people change roles.
Article 11(7) AMLRRemoving the compliance officer requires prior information to the management body and information to the supervisor, including whether the decision relates to the officer’s tasks. A written procedure avoids drafting one under pressure.
Article 11(2) AMLRInternal policies need approval by the management body, and procedures and controls at least at the level of the compliance manager. The compliance manager also reports annually. Both leave documents you can show.
Article 9(2) and Article 11(6) AMLRFive questions along Article 11. Choose the state that matches your entity; the recommendation appears right below. Nothing is transmitted or stored.
These steps make sense whatever form the national adaptation takes. The three phases combine the Article 11 questions with the classic tasks of a new managing director.
Use conversations, association reports and competitor analysis, and keep an onboarding plan with milestones for the first 100 days.
Establish goals, authority and interfaces with other executives and shareholders, and know your duties under company law, such as the GmbH Act in Germany.
Be present with employees, listen to customers and partners, and let trust grow before you change structures.
Develop a decision model: which information, which perspectives, which values are non-negotiable. Stand by decisions and learn from mistakes.
Take stock first, with a SWOT analysis and benchmarks, then set measurable goals for the next three to five years and communicate them.
Manage pressure through prioritisation and delegation, keep breaks and exchange with other leaders, and invest in your own development.
Article 11 AMLR turns a loosely shared responsibility into a named one. For a new managing director that means a concrete question for the first weeks: who carries the compliance manager role today, and is it documented?
The answers refer to the text of the Regulation and the German provisions cited in the sources. They do not replace legal advice in an individual case.
The compliance manager is one member of the management body in its management function, named by the obliged entity. This person is responsible for ensuring compliance with the AMLR, Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 and administrative acts of supervisors, for aligning policies, procedures and controls with the entity’s risk exposure, for resources, and for receiving information on significant weaknesses.
The AMLR applies from 10 July 2027 under Article 90. For football agents and professional football clubs, named in Article 3 No. 3 (n) and (o), it applies from 10 July 2029. Until then, national rules such as sections 4 and 7 of the German Money Laundering Act apply to entities in Germany.
No. Article 11(1) requires the entity to name one member of its management body. It does not say that this must be the newest member, so the management body decides who takes the role.
Yes, if the nature of the business, its risks and complexity, and the entity’s size justify it. Article 11(7) allows one natural person to perform both functions and to combine them with other functions. If the entity’s activities are carried out by only one natural person, that person is responsible for the tasks in Article 11. Writing down the reasons for a combination is sensible, although the Regulation does not prescribe a form.
Section 4(3) GwG already makes a designated member of the management level responsible for risk management and AML compliance, and section 7(1) GwG requires a compliance officer at management level and a deputy for the entities it lists. Article 11 AMLR keeps a responsible board member and a separate operational officer but spells out more: resources, weakness information, annual reporting, protection and a reporting line to the management body. How the German rules are adapted to the Regulation is open; check the Federal Ministry of Finance for the current status.
Article 18 allows obliged entities to outsource tasks to service providers, with prior notice to the supervisor and a written agreement. Some decisions cannot be outsourced under any circumstances, among them the approval of the business-wide risk assessment and of the internal policies, procedures and controls, the decision on a customer’s risk profile, the decision to enter a business relationship, and reports of suspicious activity to the financial intelligence unit, unless they go to another obliged entity of the same group in the same Member State.
Every statement on this page can be traced to the sources below. EU acts come first, then German law, then the supervisory authorities.
Legal status: October 2026. This page is general information based on the cited sources and does not replace legal advice in an individual case. Check all references against the current official text before relying on them.
Article 11 touches roles, reporting lines and documentation. These pages cover the services and training that connect to them.
S+P Compliance Services for the money laundering reporting officer function of firms in Germany.
Support for the compliance officer function at BaFin-regulated firms.
An independent audit function belongs to the set-up described in Articles 9 and 11.
Compliance functions as a service for firms in Germany.
German-language page on preparing your organisation for the AMLR.
A German-language article from S+P Seminare on how Article 11 splits the roles and what teams must be ready for. It covers the same Regulation from the angle of qualification, this article from that of management.
Rights, duties and tasks of a managing director in the LLC, compact and practical.
Strategy, leadership and organisation for new and experienced managing directors.
Specialist knowledge for managing directors with regulatory responsibility in the financial sector.
Achim Schulz kennt die Führungsebene aus eigener Verantwortung – langjährig als Vorstand bei Banken und Geschäftsführer sowie als Interim-Manager in Industrieunternehmen. Diese Doppelperspektive aus Finanzsektor und Realwirtschaft prägt seine Beiträge für CEO, COO und CFO. Er kennt das Zusammenspiel von Geschäftsleitung, Aufsichtsrat und Gesellschaftern aus der Praxis und übersetzt strategische wie aufsichtsrechtliche Anforderungen in umsetzbare, haftungssichere Führungsentscheidungen – praxisnah und auf Augenhöhe mit dem Management.
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