Experts: EU Anti-money Laundering Efforts Should be Centralized

Published: 10 September 2018

By Tibor Racz

EU authorities warned of serious weaknesses in the bloc’s money laundering controls after serious scandals fuelled concerns over illicit funds entering in the European banking system, the Financial Times reported.

EU financial supervisors from various banking regulators prepared a report that said recent events “exposed shortcomings” and “gaps” in how different national and EU authorities cooperate to stamp out flows of dirty money.

According to the report seen by the Financial Times, there are massive gaps in information-sharing between EU countries concerning money laundering.

“If you are in the single market, the strength of anti-money-laundering controls can only be as high as the weakest link. So if you have a weak authority, then the criminal money may enter the single market,” Andrea Enria, the head of the European Bank Authority, told the paper.

The report named as some of the weaknesses the lack of legal clarity and necessary resources to ensure rules are properly enforced.

The experts proposed that some of the responsibilities currently spread over different EU authorities be centralized and money laundering be monitored by an already existing or new body.