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Banks, credit companies and other financial institutions will have to check a customer's identity when they open an account or whenever the customer carries out a transaction of € 15,000 or more. Anonymous accounts and those opened under false names will be banned.
Those subject to the Directive need to:
Each Member State will have to decide under what circumstances a financial operation poses a high risk of money laundering or of financing terrorism.
Parliament added to the Commission proposal a requirement for financial institutions to identify not only the director of a company, casino or trust which carries out a transaction but also all 'beneficial owners' who control at least 25% of those entities. The Commission had set the threshold at 10%.
Final adoption of the Directive is expected at the ECOFIN Council of 7 June in Luxembourg.