16 September 2022

Opening speech by Commissioner McGuinness at European Court of Auditors high-level seminar, 'New EU AML-CTF supervision model: expectations

But fundamentally, when we talk about money laundering, we're talking about trust and integrity – or indeed the attack on trust and integrity in our financial system... And as citizens we should be able to trust the financial system...Dirty money destroys trust and corrupts the system.

I'm going to answer your three questions, because you've put them to me very clearly, and then I'll give you my introductory remarks.

So on the question of urgency. My presence here should reflect the sense of urgency I feel about this topic.

And you'll hear why as I go into my speech, because this touches the hearts of our society, and it corrupts, absolutely, if it is not addressed correctly.

The second question on whether we are well supported on this. We absolutely are, because I think across the Member States and in the European Parliament, there is a recognition that our work to date on anti-money laundering has not been sufficient, and we have to go a big step forward.

Your third question on progress. I am happy with progress – I am generally impatient, so of course I want to urge the co-legislators to move as fast as they can. But also I want them to do solid work in order to make our proposal better and to tackle money laundering at a time when we know it is a very serious issue.

And indeed, Mihails, you mentioned the geopolitical context, and I think we're all aware of that.

So anything that corrupts our financial system, we have to tackle head-on.

So let me go again into my introductory remarks for this morning's event, and thank you again for bringing us all together.

Supervision is crucial and I think the core of today's conference will be about how do we actively and effectively supervise the new rules that will come into play.

Maybe to say that sometimes when we talk about rules and regulations around money laundering, and indeed around other topics, they sound dry. It's about rules, and procedures, and all that goes with that.

But fundamentally, when we talk about money laundering, we're talking about trust and integrity – or indeed the attack on trust and integrity in our financial system.

And as citizens we should be able to trust the financial system.

Dirty money destroys trust and corrupts the system.

We cannot allow dirty money to be laundered and cleansed of its illegal and corrupt origins through our financial institutions.

I think the renewed focus on Russian oligarchs has reminded us that those who engage in activities, illegal activities around money laundering, can too easily move their dirty money into our financial system and hide its origins.

Let me take a step backwards. Because we need to acknowledge, and especially in this forum, that there are real and terrible crimes behind dirty money.

We have organised criminal gangs. We have arms dealers. We have drug traffickers, people smugglers – including children, people who smuggle children, and terrorists.

So the crimes that lead to dirty money are appalling...

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