The European Commission (EC) has announced its plan to improve the EU’s anti-money-laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) efforts. The EC has developed an Action Plan with several steps to be implemented in the first quarter of 2021.
The steps include an integrated set of rules for all EU member states and the appointment of an EU-level supervisor. Further, the EC will propose an EU-wide mechanism so all Financial Intelligence Units can collaborate and coordinate with each other. It will also advise on the importance of public-private partnerships for enhanced data sharing. This new Action Plan is expected to improve the EU’s AML/CFT efforts. Its implementation will be spread out over the next 12 months.
The EC has also described its new methodology to identify high-risk third countries with strategic AML/CFT deficiencies that threaten the EU. The new methodology will increase the transparency of identification. It will also improve the EC’s collaboration with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Additionally, there will also be an increase in engagement with third countries. Based on this new method, the EC has already released a new list of third countries with AML/CFT deficiencies.
