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EU, U.S. Agree on Interbank Data Sharing Protocols in Terrorism Investigations
By Brian Monroe
printThe United States and European Union tentatively agreed Monday to a plan allowing the sharing of interbank messaging data as part of investigations into terrorism. The agreement on how to share data from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) is the outcome of approximately a year of diplomatic negotiations involving top officials on both sides of the Atlantic. U.S. investigators lost access to the data in January, after the Belgium-based banking consortium moved its Manassas, VA-based server to Switzerland. On Monday, Spanish Minister for Home Affairs Alfredo P?©rez Rubalcaba signed the draft agreement on behalf of the European...
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EU lawmakers will discuss controversies later this month surrounding an agreement to share data on terrorist financing with the United States after parliamentarians Thursday called aspects of the deal "unjust."
Despite tightened controls on interbank messaging, some bankers looking to hide the role of their blacklisted clients in international wires need only type a single key on their keyboard, according to experts.
The EU is pushing the United States for answers following reports that the National Security Agency siphoned bank messaging data held in the European Union, possibly in violation of a July 2010 treaty.
The government of Iran and banks under its influence are increasingly using investments in foreign financial institutions as a means to circumvent sanctions, including restrictions on interbank messages, say sources.
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The EU Council passed a controversial agreement Monday to extend the access of U.S. counterterrorism investigators to European financial data by another nine months.
The Belgian-based consortium plans to open the center by then end of 2009 as part of an effort to restructure how financial data is transmitted internationally.
Because data protection laws in Europe and elsewhere make it difficult for a multinational financial institution to share data among all of its branches, the laws "will be the biggest impediment to protection from terrorism," the officials said.
The Bush administration suffered a setback Friday when a federal judge rejected its effort to block a civil lawsuit against an international banking consortium that provides the administration with data for terrorist investigations.