France will seek to implement the European Union's latest anti-money laundering directive by September, nine months ahead of a mandated deadline, according to a French official.
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.
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 leaders want the European Commission to propose new steps to fight terrorist financing by next month, the economic bloc's justice and interior ministers said Friday.
U.S. financial institutions have identified funds potentially linked to last week's terrorist attacks in Paris, according to a top counterterrorism investigator with the FBI.
A global anti-money laundering group is set to include at least a dozen countries on a new list of jurisdictions that don't meet minimum standards for controls against terror finance, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
Representatives of over 20 nations meeting in Paris endorsed a plan to choke off international funding of Islamic State militants and prevent the organization from financing its growing cadre of foreign affiliates.
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