NEWS: EU banks not taking money laundering risks seriously, despite costly CDD failings, EBA warns

Regulatory Watch News

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  The EBA issues ‘travel rule’ guidance to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing in transfers of funds and crypto assets

  European Banking Authority

  July 4, 2024

  The European Banking Authority (EBA) issued today new Guidelines on the so-called ‘travel rule’, i.e. the information that should accompany transfers of funds and certain crypto assets. This rule will help tackle the abuse of  such transfers for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes. The Guidelines specify which information should accompany a transfer of funds or crypto assets and also list the steps that payment service providers (PSPs), intermediary PSPs (IPSPs), crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) and intermediary CASPs (ICASPs) should take to detect missing or incomplete information, and what they should do if a transfer of funds or a transfer of crypto-assets lacks the required information. The objective is to establish a consistent and effective approach to implementing the travel rule across the EU that allows relevant authorities to fully trace such transfers where this is necessary to prevent, detect or investigate money laundering and terrorist financing.

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  Statement by the High Representative on behalf of the EU on the alignment of certain countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2024/1603 concerning restrictive measures against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

  European Council

  July 4, 2024

  The Council decided that six individuals and three entities should be included in the lists of persons and entities subject to restrictive measures set out in Annexes II and III to Decision (CFSP) 2016/849. The candidate countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina², as well as the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this Council Decision. They will ensure that their national policies conform to this Council Decision. The European Union takes note of this commitment and welcomes it.

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  Croatia: One convicted of subsidy fraud and document forgery

  European Public Prosecutor's Office

  July 4, 2024

  (Luxembourg, 4 July 2024) – Following an investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Zagreb (Croatia), the County Court in Zagreb has found one suspect guilty of subsidy fraud and document forgery, in relation to three projects, including a greenhouse construction, co-financed by the EU.