EU eyes new body to tackle dirty money

LONDON: The European Union will propose a new agency to crack down on money laundering and new transparency rules for transfers of crypto-assets, EU documents showed on Wednesday (local time) as the bloc responds to calls to fight dirty money.
Europe has come under pressure to step up enforcement of anti-money laundering rules after several countries began investigating Danske Bank over 200 billion euros (K8.29bil) of suspicious transactions that passed through its tiny Estonian branch between 2007 and 2015.
Lacking any pan-EU authority to stop dirty money, Brussels has relied on national regulators to enforce its rules, but they have not always cooperated fully.
“Money laundering, terrorist financing and organised crime remain significant problems which should be addressed at Union level,” the documents, seen by Reuters, said.
“The EU’s executive European Commission is proposing a new anti-money laundering authority that will become the ‘centrepiece’ of an integrated supervisory system also made up of national authorities.” – Reuters