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EU finance ministers on Tuesday appointed veteran Italian central banker Bruna Szego as chair of the bloc’s new Anti-Money Laundering Authority.

The Frankfurt-based AML Authority, or AMLA, will set uniform standards for compliance and supervision across the bloc, serve as a data-sharing hub for national financial intelligence units, and from 2028 onwards directly oversee 40 of the EU’s riskiest financial institutions as measured by their systemic importance and exposure to illicit finance.

Szego has worked at Banca d’Italia, Italy’s central bank, since 1990 and led the regulator’s Anti-Money Laundering Supervision and Regulation Unit since June 2022. She is expected to chair the first meeting of AMLA’s general board, which is made up of representatives of national authorities, in the coming weeks.

Szego’s appointment Tuesday will usher in a hiring campaign that could see considerable numbers of national officials resign their current positions and relocate to Frankfurt. AMLA plans to start with an initial headcount of 80 employees this year and hire an additional 352 personnel by the end of 2027, before the agency’s direct supervisory role commences.