The EuropeanCommission produced a press release noting a set of efforts aiming to identify, address and assess the issue of money laundering within the Union.
Apart form a number of statements and communication showing a clear tendency to move AML supervision to EU institution rather than local authorities, the Union published a report showing the key issues.
The report, as a first attempt analysed previous cases of Money Laundering to draw some conclusion on a case by case basis addressing each industry.
Banks.- were noted to have a conduct attitude, as implementation and effectiveness of the AML rules, policies and procedures was the noted issue.
Regulation, policies and procedures are in place, nonetheless, the banks are failing to comply with them and to materialise the aims of such rules (formal compliance), showing a tone at the top issue.
National authorities;- were note as holding significant differences regarding interpretation and application of rules, creating a disparity between regimes.
Additionally, given the lack of resources, supervision was limited and the system appeared to be led to be sufficient without major checks on effectiveness.
The need for IT tools to support the compliance function were highlighted and for investment on AML system were noted as a key factor of improvement both in the public and in the private sector.
This joins the general lack of resourced allocated and the lack of sufficient and qualified human capital.
It has been noted as next steps that financial supervision, obligations of financial institutions and cooperation are to be on the agenda of the Commission to address the gaps.
