France's decision to drop plans to launch a new corporate settlements program as part of a broader anti-corruption campaign could stymie future bank cooperation with investigators, according to industry experts.
If there is a single lesson to be learned from the terror attacks that killed more than 30 people in Brussels Tuesday it is the importance of information sharing.
EU member-states must more quickly transpose and implement the bloc's proposed and finalized mandates to cut off terrorists' funding and bolster security, European leaders said following a ministerial meeting Thursday.
The European Commission on Tuesday proposed new steps to bolster the bloc's fight against terrorism and money laundering, including limits on the transportation of cash and the creation of centralized bank account registers.
EU nations have until next week to answer a survey on terrorist financing ahead of the February release of a European Commission action plan to address the issue, officials disclosed Friday.
An intergovernmental watchdog will soon review how nations are contending with legal obstacles to sharing financial intelligence on terrorism as part of a broader effort to clamp down on militant funding.
Among the many challenges of identifying terrorist funds is the fact that they can be hidden in plain sight, according to Colin P. Clarke, an associate political scientist at the RAND Corporation who studies the subject.
EU finance ministers broadly endorsed a French plan to tackle terrorist financing ahead of the expected issuance in the coming weeks of related regulatory proposals by the European Commission.
The French government intends to move quickly to strengthen protections against terrorist financiers, including broadening investigatory access to data on suspected militants and toughening oversight of prepaid cards, a top official said Monday.
EU interior ministers on Friday will consider new steps to cut off financial flows to terrorist groups, including a proposal to create a bloc-wide database of bank accounts, according to sources.