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The European Commission is hell-bent on creating a watchdog to enforce the bloc’s anti-money laundering rules. But skeptics fear it won’t have much bite.
Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis sounded a rallying call for a European authority last week as the Brussels executive launched an action plan for tackling illicit funds flowing through the EU.
“What we should be aiming for is a strong EU supervisor, which can act in case of failure, for example, of national supervisors to act,” the Latvian European commissioner said in an interview. “We have strong, strict anti-money laundering rules, but enforcement is uneven.”
The Commission’s action plan also outlines initiatives to harmonize and update anti-money laundering safeguards across the bloc while improving communication channels among financial intelligence units, the agencies in each country that analyze information from banks and other businesses obliged to report on suspicious activities.
The plans are open for input from the public until July 29, in preparation for legislative proposals scheduled for early 2021.
Progress could prove slow, some Treasury officials and think tankers warned. National interests and general opposition to handing too much power to a European authority could stifle the Commission’s plans