EU Agrees To Tighten Money Laundering Rules, Calls To Create New Supervisory Body

EU Agrees to Tighten Money Laundering Rules, Calls to Create New Supervisory Body

The European Council has approved a set of conclusions calling for greater international cooperation and tougher measures to combat money laundering within the EU, and also implored the establishment of a new supervisory body to monitor criminal activity, a press release stated on Thursday, as investigations into the Danske Bank scandal continue

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th December, 2019) The European Council has approved a set of conclusions calling for greater international cooperation and tougher measures to combat money laundering within the EU, and also implored the establishment of a new supervisory body to monitor criminal activity, a press release stated on Thursday, as investigations into the Danske Bank scandal continue.

The new rules will strengthen the EU's ability to act against money laundering and terrorist financing, the press release stated.

Council members voted to approve plans which call for a comprehensive review of anti-money laundering legislation ratified in May 2018. New measures include establishing a more comprehensive framework of global cooperation between different organizations, and the creation of a new independent supervisory body, attached to the European Union, which would have the ability to act on behalf of the EU.

The EU's desire to become tougher on money laundering comes after the Danske Bank scandal. Prosecutors have already begun proceedings after the Danish bank was accused to have conducted over $234 billion of suspicious transactions through a branch in Estonia between 2007 and 2015. In September, German prosecutors began probing Deutsche Bank over its potential role in facilitating Danske Bank's fraudulent transactions.

An Estonian branch of another European bank, Sweden's Swedbank, was confronted with similar allegations, namely that it had processed at least $3.8 billion worth of suspicious transactions from 2007-2015.