Is the money laundering course mandatory?

Article 29 of Act 10/2010 has two sentences. The first: ‘Obliged entities shall adopt appropriate measures so that their employees are aware of the requirements arising from this Act’.

The second spells out how: those measures ‘shall include the duly accredited participation of employees in specific ongoing training courses aimed at detecting transactions that may be related to money laundering or terrorist financing and instructing them on how to proceed in such cases’.

Source: Ley 10/2010, de prevención del blanqueo de capitales y de la financiación del terrorismo, artículo 29 (BOE, texto consolidado) (dated 30/09/2026)

The obliged entities in article 2.1. Not just banks. Among others: ‘property developers and those who professionally carry out agency, commission or brokerage activities in the sale and purchase of real estate’ (and in lettings above certain amounts); ‘auditors, external accountants, tax advisers’; lawyers and court representatives (procuradores) when they take part in certain transactions on behalf of clients, such as sales of property or companies, management of funds or the creation of companies; and ‘persons who professionally trade in jewels, precious stones or metals’ or in works of art or antiques.

At 31 December 2024, Sepblac counted 26,403 non-financial obliged entities.

Sources: Ley 10/2010, artículo 2.1: sujetos obligados (BOE, texto consolidado) (dated 30/09/2026) · Comisión de Prevención del Blanqueo de Capitales, «Memoria estadística 2020-2024», tabla 3 (datos del Sepblac) (dated 31/12/2024)

Royal Decree 813/2026, in force since 28 October 2026, reformed the Regulation. For small businesses it keeps almost all the exceptions, but removes one: its preamble says that article 31 is amended to ‘remove the exception hitherto contained for certain obliged entities to appoint a representative before the Executive Service’.

In other words: every obliged entity, including a three-person business, has to appoint a representative before Sepblac and notify it. Small ones have nine months from the entry into force to do so.

Sources: Real Decreto 813/2026, de 7 de octubre: preámbulo, artículo quinto y disposición transitoria segunda (BOE) (dated 08/10/2026) · Real Decreto 304/2014 (Reglamento de la Ley 10/2010), artículo 31.1 (BOE, texto consolidado) (dated 08/10/2026)

With fewer than 10 people and up to €2 million (Regulation, art. 31.1), the business is exempt from written procedures, the documented risk analysis, the manual, the external review and the annual training plan (arts. 31, 32, 33, 38 and 39). It remains bound by everything else: identifying, knowing the beneficial owner, reviewing, reporting, not tipping off, keeping records for ten years, appointing a representative and ‘evidencing that the representative before the Executive Service of the Commission has received adequate external training for the exercise of their functions’ (art. 39.4).

On the training of the rest of its employees, this is what there is and no more: article 29 of the Act requires employees to know their obligations and contains no exception; Sepblac’s website presents these businesses as exempt from the annual plan and leaves the representative’s training as the requirement; whoever deals with the customer applies in person obligations from which nobody is exempt; and from 10 July 2027 article 12 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 requires continuing, documented training from every obliged entity, with no size threshold.

No ruling or judgment we have found settles the doubt. We say so because that is how it is.

Sources: Real Decreto 304/2014 (Reglamento de la Ley 10/2010), artículo 31.1 (BOE, texto consolidado) (dated 08/10/2026) · Real Decreto 304/2014 (Reglamento de la Ley 10/2010), artículo 39 (BOE, texto consolidado) (dated 08/10/2026) · Ley 10/2010, de prevención del blanqueo de capitales y de la financiación del terrorismo, artículo 29 (BOE, texto consolidado) (dated 30/09/2026) · Sepblac, «Medidas de control interno» (formación de empleados) (dated 13/11/2026) · Reglamento (UE) 2024/1624, artículos 12 y 90 (EUR-Lex) (dated 19/06/2024)

‘Mandatory annual course’ is only literal for whoever must have an annual training plan: businesses with 10 or more people or more than €2 million, or belonging to a group that exceeds those figures. For them the Regulation adds: ‘Each year, obliged entities shall document the degree of compliance with the training plan’.

For small ones, neither the Act nor the Regulation sets how often the representative is trained, or for how many hours. The Act speaks of ‘ongoing’ training (‘permanente’); the European regulation will speak of ‘continuing’ training (‘continua’).

Sources: Ley 10/2010, de prevención del blanqueo de capitales y de la financiación del terrorismo, artículo 29 (BOE, texto consolidado) (dated 30/09/2026) · Real Decreto 304/2014 (Reglamento de la Ley 10/2010), artículo 39 (BOE, texto consolidado) (dated 08/10/2026)

There is no official certificate template. The texts ask that participation be ‘duly accredited’ (Act, art. 29) and that training actions be ‘appropriately accredited’ and ‘consistent with the degree of responsibility of the recipients and the level of risk of the activities they carry out’ (Regulation, art. 39.2).

In practice, that means being able to show who was trained, when, for how many hours, with what content and with what result. It is what Formativia’s dossier records, person by person.

Sources: Ley 10/2010, de prevención del blanqueo de capitales y de la financiación del terrorismo, artículo 29 (BOE, texto consolidado) (dated 30/09/2026) · Real Decreto 304/2014 (Reglamento de la Ley 10/2010), artículo 39 (BOE, texto consolidado) (dated 08/10/2026)

No. Sepblac says so in its frequently asked questions: ‘The law does not oblige these courses to be bought externally, nor does it specify who must deliver them. Nor does it establish criteria for approval or validation of training programmes’.

And on its warnings page it recalls that it ‘never endorses or gives any opinion on the actions of third parties’. A course ‘approved by Sepblac’ or an ‘official certificate’ does not exist: not ours, not anyone’s.

Sources: Sepblac, «Preguntas frecuentes» de sujetos obligados (dated 13/11/2026) · Sepblac, «Advertencias a sujetos obligados» (dated 13/11/2026)

The Act lists among serious infringements ‘failure to comply with the obligation to train employees, on the terms of article 29’ (art. 52.1 r) and failure to notify Sepblac of the proposed appointment of the representative (art. 52.1 n). For serious infringements, article 57.1 a) provides for a fine ‘of a minimum amount of €60,000’.

The full picture, so as not to frighten anyone: among the final penalties that the Commission for the Prevention of Money Laundering publishes each year, there are two for failing to train employees, both from 2020: one against an entity that trades in works of art and one against an investment services firm. The publication is anonymous and does not state their size. The reason to train the team is not the fine: an employee who cannot recognise a suspicious transaction is the door through which the problem comes in.

Sources: Ley 10/2010, artículo 52.1: infracciones graves (BOE, texto consolidado) (dated 30/09/2026) · Ley 10/2010, artículo 57.1 a): sanciones por infracciones graves (BOE, texto consolidado) (dated 30/09/2026) · Tesoro, Comisión de Prevención del Blanqueo de Capitales: sanciones firmes publicadas (dated 13/11/2026)

Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 will apply from 10 July 2027. Its article 12 asks every obliged entity for ‘continuing training’ courses for its employees, ‘appropriate to their functions or activities’, which ‘shall be duly documented’.

Source: Reglamento (UE) 2024/1624, artículos 12 y 90 (EUR-Lex) (dated 19/06/2024)