Cracking down on money laundering

On 9 September 2021, Commissioner McGuinness gave a speech in Ljubljana at the Eurofi conference, where she discussed anti-money laundering and the new legislative package the European Commission has recently adopted. Ms McGuinness began by underlining the fact that recent financial scandals have shown that EU rules have not been clear or consistent enough, nor have they been enforced as effectively as they should have been. She then set out the main elements of the reform package. Firstly, the single rulebook, which will ensure rules are consistent across the EU. Ms McGuinness spoke of the proposal for an upper limit of €10,000 for cash transactions, recalling the fact that cash remains criminals’ preferred method for laundering money. She also said that anti-money laundering rules, which currently only apply to part of the crypto sector, will be adapted to take into account technological developments. Ms McGuinness then set out the second part of the reforms: a new Anti-Money Laundering Authority at European level. She said the authority would act as a central hub for knowledge and expertise – helping all supervisors across the EU step up their game. It will also help ‘Financial Intelligence Units’ work together more effectively.

You can read the full speech here