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Legislation designed to bring Germany in line with the European Union's latest anti-money laundering standards and target illicit finance in real estate won the approval of the country's lower legislative chamber Thursday, setting the stage for a final vote next month. The bill would require cryptocurrency and other nonbank firms and professions to vet clients and report suspicious activity, lower the threshold at which gold dealers must flag transactions from €10,000 to €2,000, and empower Germany's Financial Intelligence Unit, or FIU, to access additional ownership data beginning in January, when the Fifth AML Directive takes effect. Some of the proposals...