Europe’s Banking Authority Opens Consultations on AML/CFT Database

Published: 11 May 2021

Euro Money Laundering

Europe’s Banking Authority Opens Consultations on AML/CFT Database. (Photo: Bruno/Germany, Pixabay, License)

By Zdravko Ljubas

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched last week a public consultation on a drafted set of regulations for a future central database on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) in the Europen Union.

The database “will be a key tool for the EBA’s recently enhanced mandate to lead, coordinate and monitor AML/CFT efforts in the EU,” the EBA said in a statement.

It will serve as an “early warning tool” that will enable the competent authorities to act before the money laundering or terrorist financing risks (ML/TF) crystallize and it will help them plan their on-site inspections and perform off-site monitoring, according to EBA.

“Information from this database will be used by individual competent authorities and the EBA to make the fight against ML/TF in the EU more targeted and effective in the future,” read the document.

The Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) public consultations run until 17 June 2021.

EBA explained that the draft RTS paper outlines the meaning and materiality of vulnerabilities found by competent authorities, as well as the type of data collected and how it will be communicated to the EBA.

The paper, it added, also sets out how the EBA will analyse and disseminate the information contained in the AML/CFT central database.

“Moreover, the draft RTS set out the rules to ensure the effectiveness of the database, the confidentiality of the data contained in the database, as well as how the database will interact with other notifications that competent authorities are required to provide to the EBA and the provisions to ensure the protection of personal data,” read the statement.