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EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive is Tougher Than Some U.S. Requirements
By Matthew Squire
printAs the deadline nears for the 25 member countries of the European Union to implement the provisions of the EU Third Money Laundering Directive, U.S. bankers have become aware that it's tougher in some provisions than the USA Patriot Act and other U.S. banking regulations. In June 2005, the European Commission adopted the EU Third Money Laundering Directive which incorporates into EU law the 40 recommendations of the international anti-money laundering policy group the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).The directive contains provisions similar to those of the Patriot Act, including requirements for suspicious activity reporting, training and maintenance of policies....
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EU parliamentarians voted Tuesday to require member-states to update their laws targeting money launderers and the financiers of terrorism, in part by naming corporate owners.
A European Parliamentary committee Thursday approved far-reaching changes to the EU's rules combating money laundering and terrorist financing, including an amendment that would require nations to publicize corporate owners.
An EU plan approved Thursday that could force banks in member-states to open accounts for most applicants would complicate anti-money laundering compliance efforts, according to critics.
British asset management firms are failing to adequately address their vulnerabilities to money laundering, bribery and corruption, the United Kingdom's chief financial regulator said Thursday.
U.S. officials will soon ask an influential intergovernmental group to call on its members to relax laws preventing bank affiliates from sharing data on suspected financial crimes, say sources.
The world's premier financial crime watchdog declined Friday to suspend Turkey's membership and disclosed how its assessors will begin evaluating jurisdictions on the efficacy with which they fight illicit finance.
The Financial Action Task Force is set to implement a two-tiered grading system for future mutual evaluations as part of an effort to better score the efficacy of anti-money laundering regimes.
The European Commission will propose two measures next week to update the EU's Third Anti-Money Laundering Directive and a primary regulation governing wire transfers, a spokesperson for the organization said Friday.
An intergovernmental group's revised expectations of how countries should seize looted assets may prove difficult to meet, and could lower the mutual evaluation scores nations receive for their anti-money laundering controls.
The Financial Action Task Force threatened Friday to suspend Turkey's membership if the country fails to pass counterterrorist financing laws ahead of a Feb. 22 meeting by the group.
A European Union bill that places anti-money laundering requirements on offshore investment vehicles and drafts their national regulators to certify the funds' compliance with EU laws was approved Monday.
British law and accounting firms are spending up to $1.5 million per year in their efforts to comply with a European anti-money laundering directive, according to an industry trade group.
The European Union Commission Thursday referred four countries, Belgium, Ireland, Sweden, and Spain, to an EU court for failing to meet a December deadline to implement stronger anti-money laundering regulations.
Five of the 15 European Union countries chastised by the EU Commission for not adopting anti-money laundering directives quickly enough could have those issues resolved by the end of the year, according to compliance consultants.
The European Union Internal Market Commission sent 15 countries letters threatening "expeditious legal action" if they didn't transpose the EU's Third Money Laundering Directive into law after missing a December 2007 deadline. But none of the countries are racing to comply, consultants say.
Fifteen of the 27 European Union member states face further legal proceedings by the European Commission for their failure to implement the EU's Third Anti-Money Laundering Directive into their national laws.
Several United Kingdom offshore financial centers were not included in a list of jurisdictions ranked as compliant with the European Union's Third Money Laundering Directive in a report issued by the EU Committee on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.
A ruling by the European Court of Justice upholding a requirement that lawyers report the suspicious activities of their clients in certain circumstances brings into relief how countries outside the European Union including the United States are dealing with gatekeeper initiatives.
A report by the City of London revealed that the European Union's Second Money Laundering Directive has been haphazardly transposed into domestic legislation, from ill-defined terminology to identity verification, in six of its member states, UK, Spain, Italy, Greece, Poland and Lithuania.