- Royal Decree 813/2026 amends eleven financial royal decrees, with the money-laundering prevention regulation at its core; it takes effect on 28 October.
- Obliged entities must have a written policy on financial sanctions and countermeasures and always appoint a representative.
- It also raises the takeover-bid notification threshold from 1 % to 3 % and eases simultaneous listing outside the EU.
Royal Decree 813/2026 of 7 October, published in the gazette on Thursday 8, amends eleven royal decrees in the financial field to bring them into line with the current regulatory framework. Its core is the reform of the regulation implementing Law 10/2010 on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, approved by Royal Decree 304/2014, but the text also touches deposit guarantees, issuer transparency, bank supervision and resolution, investment firms and the payment methods of public administrations. It takes effect twenty days after publication, that is, on 28 October.
For companies, the most relevant part is the anti-laundering regulation. It affects the so-called obliged entities, which include financial institutions but also notaries, lawyers, tax advisers or estate agents, among others. According to its preamble, the rule responds to Spain’s forthcoming FATF mutual evaluation and partially transposes Directive (EU) 2024/1640. It is worth checking whether your organisation is an obliged entity, what procedures it has and whether they are up to date before the rule takes effect.
Identification and due diligence
Identification and verification of identity must in all cases be carried out in transactions before a notary, and extend to transactions at crypto ATMs. The national ID card may be used in its physical or digital version, and information obtained by electronic identification means will be kept; this part applies eighteen months after publication. In non-face-to-face transactions, secure identification procedures will have to meet the minimum requirements of the general authorisations of the Executive Service of the Prevention Commission, rather than requiring an individual authorisation.
In addition, if due diligence could not be completed when the business relationship began, the obliged entity must assess whether to file a suspicious-activity report, after the special review provided for in the law. Anyone working with remote onboarding should review their procedure against those minimum requirements.
Internal control and financial sanctions
Obliged entities must approve in writing and apply appropriate policies and procedures on international financial sanctions and countermeasures, and their prior risk analysis will take into account at least the national analysis, the EU supranational one, sector analyses and information from the competent authorities. The exception that let certain entities avoid appointing a representative to the Executive Service disappears; small ones, with fewer than ten people and turnover or balance sheet of up to €2 million, have nine months to report it.
In corporate groups, the representative may designate up to three authorised persons. For foundations and associations, the regulation is aligned with FATF standards and the risk-based approach, with the exception of religious entities. In practice this means documenting who decides, what is reviewed and how often; procedures that are not in writing are hard to defend in an inspection.
Other changes for issuers and firms
On issuer transparency, the notification threshold for significant acquisitions during a takeover bid rises from 1 % to 3 %, treasury-share reporting is adjusted to the 3 %, 5 % and 10 % thresholds, and notification duties of directors and executives that overlapped with the European market-abuse regime are removed. For investment firms, third-country entities operating on a cross-border basis no longer have to send the CNMV, each year, information equivalent to that of branches.
It also eases simultaneous trading of Spanish securities on markets outside the EU without moving the issue’s main register, through a global technical account at the Spanish central depository that confers no legitimation title over the securities. Public administrations will be able to pay by bank card for payments to be justified and fixed-cash advances. If your company is listed or provides investment services, consult your adviser on which changes affect you.
Anti-laundering compliance is shown through written procedures, not good intentions.
This article is general information. It is not legal, tax or investment advice, and it does not take anyone’s particular circumstances into account.
