Brussels, 28 October 2022
The Commission has adopted the Supranational Risk Assessment (SNRA) Report, a tool to help Member States identify and address money laundering and terrorist financing risks. The report shows that while most recommendations of the previous assessments (the last such report dates from 2019) have already been implemented, it underlines the fact that weaknesses in identifying beneficial ownership continue to remain a considerable threat to the financial system, as anonymity remains a critical vulnerability for all sectors and activities. The report also re-calculates the risk levels of certain areas where changes have been detected since 2019, e.g. crypto-assets and online gambling, where risks are now higher. The Commission remains committed to protecting EU citizens and the financial system from money laundering and terrorist financing. The recent anti-money rules (AML) rules proposed in the 2021 legislative package, aim at improving the detection of suspicious transactions and activities, and close loopholes used by criminals to launder illicit proceeds or finance terrorist activities through the financial system. Today’s report recognises the importance of this package, which is currently being discussed by the European Parliament and the Council. The full report is available here.
Source – EU Commission
Anti-money laundering: New guidance on the use of PPP paves the way for a more efficient prevention of money laundering
Brussels, 28 October 2022
The European Commission has published guidance on the use of public-private partnerships (PPP) to prevent and fight money laundering and terrorist financing. In recent years, PPPs have developed to exchange either strategic information, such as trends in criminal activities, money laundering, and terrorist financing risk indicators, or operational information, for instance related to specific cases, known persons and specific transactions. Today’s guidance aims to improve stakeholders’ general understanding of what PPPs are, and to encourage, where possible, their role in the effective fight against money laundering and terrorism financing. The document provides guidance on the main features and the associated opportunities, specific legal considerations, as well as observed best practices of PPPs. The Commission has emphasised the importance of the effective exchange of information in the fight against these crimes in its 2020 Action Plan for a comprehensive Union policy on preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. In preparation of this document, the Commission carried out a public consultation with stakeholders from the public and private sector. Member States, EU agencies and bodies, academic organisations, research institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and the general public were all consulted. The aim was to learn from existing experiences but also to collect views, opinions, as well as facts and figures on the functioning of PPPs in order to fight financial crime. The PPP guideline is available here.
Source – EU Commission