News

The Parliament of Cyprus approved legislation Friday that would raise the threshold at which banks and other firms must identify the ultimate owners or controllers of legal-entity clients from 10 percent to 25 percent. The bill, which would bring the nation’s beneficial-ownership threshold in line with the minimum level stipulated by the European Union’s Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, or 4AMLD, also includes measures to create a national register of ownership data and require banks to conduct enhanced due diligence on clients from high-risk nations. There is a dearth of evidence that the nation’s current threshold of 10 percent has helped...