Reuters reports that the EU will propose a new body to deal with dirty money

By the hand of Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) – The European Union is proposing a new agency to launder money and new transparency rules to deal with cryptocurrency transfers, as EU documents showed on Wednesday as the bloc responds to calls for tougher action to tackle dirty money.

Europe has come under pressure to enforce anti-money laundering rules, as several countries began investigating Danske Bank over suspicious transactions worth 200 billion euros that passed through Estonia’s small office between 2007 and 2015.

In the absence of EU authorities to stop dirty money, Brussels has relied on national rules to enforce its rules, but they have not always fully cooperated.

“Money laundering, terrorist financing and organized crime remain important issues, and should be addressed at Union level,” Reuters reported.

The EU European Commission is proposing a new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), which will also become the “axis” of an integrated supervisory system made up of national authorities.

“By properly monitoring and making decisions on some of the most dangerous organizations in the cross-border financial sector, the Authority will directly help prevent money laundering / terrorist financing incidents in the Union,” the documents added.

“At the same time, it will coordinate national supervisory authorities and increase their effectiveness in enforcing a single rulebook and ensuring high-quality oversight standards, approaches and risk assessment methodologies.”

According to the documents, EU AML rules will be directly binding on member states to stop criminals who exploit differences between national rules.

A new proposal would introduce new EU requirements for cryptocurrency asset service providers to collect and make available data on the originators and beneficiaries of transfers of these assets.

Transfers of these virtual assets are currently outside the scope of EU financial services regulations.

“Failure to comply with these rules leaves money laundering and terrorist risk holders under the influence of terrorist financing, as illegal cash flows can be made through crypto asset transfers,” the document says.

Sven Giegold of the German Green Party told the European Parliament that the European Commission has put together a strong package against money laundering. Parliament and EU states will have the final say on the proposed rules.

“With uniform standards and more centralized oversight, the EU Commission is making significant improvements to enable consistent action against financial crime,” Giegold said. In the meantime, the EU should take legal action against EU states that do not properly comply with AML rules, he added.