Financial institutions in the European Union are failing to recognize the controlling minds behind sophisticated money laundering operations by only "mechanically" applying EU rules aimed at piercing corporate secrecy, the bloc's executive branch said Monday. In its first assessment of the money laundering and terrorist financing threats facing the European Union, the European Commission identified 40 financial products and services as prone to abuse by financial criminals, including real estate firms, informal value transfer providers and non-profit organizations. Identifying data on beneficial owners should be "adequate, accurate and current" but the lack of "documented, in-depth" assessments permits senior-level organizers and...
The European Union is failing to exploit valuable financial intelligence on terrorism and organized crime because of poor staffing in government bureaus and inadequate information sharing across borders, officials told parliamentarians.
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