Council and Parliament strike deal on stricter rules related to anti-money laundering

The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament found a provisional agreement on parts of the anti-money laundering package that aims to protect EU citizens and the EU's financial system against money laundering and terrorist financing, Report informs, citing Consilium.

"This agreement is part and parcel of the EU’s new anti-money laundering system. It will improve the way national systems against money laundering and terrorist financing are organised and work together. This will ensure that fraudsters, organised crime, and terrorists will have no space left for legitimising their proceeds through the financial system," Vincent Van Peteghem, Belgian Minister of Finance, said.

With the new package, all rules applying to the private sector will be transferred to a new regulation, while the directive will deal with the organisation of institutional AML/CFT systems at the national level in the member states.

The provisional agreement on an anti-money laundering regulation will, for the first time, exhaustively harmonise rules throughout the EU, closing possible loopholes used by criminals to launder illicit proceeds or finance terrorist activities through the financial system.

The agreement on the directive will improve the organisation of national anti-money laundering systems.