By Francesco GuarascioBRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union governments have reached a preliminary deal to clamp down on money laundering by strengthening bank supervision through the European Banking Authority (EBA), the EU said on Wednesday.gi The EU has been beset by money-laundering scandals this year, including probes into 200 billion euros (180.88 billion pounds) of payments made through Danske Bank's <DANSKE.CO> Estonian branch, the collapse of Latvia's ABLV Bank and the closure of Malta's Pilatus Bank.The reform was rolled out by the EU Commission in September after cases of alleged money laundering at some EU banks that "raised concerns that anti-money laundering rules are not always supervised and enforced effectively across the EU," an EU statement said.Under the agreed text, the EBA would be able to directly force individual banks to take measures against money laundering "as a last resort" if national authorities do not act. The text, backed by diplomats from the 28 EU … [Read more...] about EU takes step to boost monitoring of money laundering at banks
Money laundering control act
Exclusive: Kuwait asks Dubai to release funds frozen in money laundering probe
By Davide Barbuscia DUBAI (Reuters) - Kuwait's prosecutors have asked Dubai to release $500 million (£385.2 million) in funds belonging to a Kuwaiti private equity fund that were frozen as part of a money laundering investigation, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The funds, held at a Dubai-based bank, were frozen at the behest of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) central bank in November 2017, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter and legal documents and correspondence between parties involved in the case reviewed by Reuters. According to a senior UAE official, the probe, which has not been previously reported, was undertaken by Dubai authorities to determine if funds sent from a bank in the Philippines to the Kuwaiti private equity fund's account in Dubai constituted money laundering. The probe comes as the UAE tightens financial regulations to fight a perception among some foreign investors that it is a hot spot for illicit money flows owing to its … [Read more...] about Exclusive: Kuwait asks Dubai to release funds frozen in money laundering probe
ING penalty puts Europe’s money laundering controls on the spot
By Toby Sterling and John O'Donnell AMSTERDAM/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - When Dutch prosecutors trawled through ING's books they found a "women's underwear trader" had been able to launder 150 million euros (135.02 million pounds)through the bank's accounts without ringing alarm bells. "It should have been clear to the bank that the monetary flows had little to do with the lingerie trade," the prosecutors said on Tuesday after imposing a 775 million euro (697.60 million pounds)penalty on the Dutch bank for its failings. In fact, ING <INGA.AS> was warned as early as a decade ago that its money laundering controls were lax, the Dutch prosecutor said, in the latest case highlighting failures in European Union money laundering controls from Latvia to Denmark. "I fear that countries in Europe are oblivious to fighting financial crime," Ana Gomes, a Portuguese member of the European Parliament, said following news of the settlement by the largest financial services provider in the … [Read more...] about ING penalty puts Europe’s money laundering controls on the spot
As anti-money laundering reform kicks in, EU seeks to close new gaps
By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) – New rules to tackle money laundering in the European Union took effect on Monday but the bloc already faces calls for further reforms as new shortcomings emerged after alleged wrongdoing at banks in Baltic states and Malta. The fifth review of the EU anti-money laundering directive became binding on Monday after two years of EU talks to strengthen controls on the real owners of companies and digital payments, including virtual currencies. But despite marking progress in the fight against large-scale fraudsters, the new rules could be born obsolete as they fail to address new gaps exposed by a series of banking scandals this year in Latvia, Estonia and Malta.. The adopted overhaul requires states to set up centralised bank account registers to smooth the work of security forces. But the national “financial intelligence units” remain weak and rarely cooperate, making it easier for criminals to get away with illegal proceeds … [Read more...] about As anti-money laundering reform kicks in, EU seeks to close new gaps
Danske Bank’s money laundering scandal spinning faster
Danske Bank's share prices has fallen by over 25 percent over the past year on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange. Photo: AFP Denmark, a country not often associated with financial shenanigans, is facing a massive scandal with banking champion Danske Bank accused of helping to launder $8.3 billion through an Estonian subsidiary. Danske, Denmark's biggest bank, had been in the crosshairs of investigators since Danish daily Berlingske last year claimed that it had been behind the laundering of around $3.9 billion of dirty money from a string of Eastern European countries. But after receiving bank statements from 20 companies with accounts in Danske Bank's Estonian branch between 2007 and 2015, the paper this week reported that the real figure was actually more than twice that. "This gravely serious case will become much worse if the latest information is correct," Denmark's business minister Rasmus Jarlov said on his Twitter account. "This casts a shadow of doubt over the entire … [Read more...] about Danske Bank’s money laundering scandal spinning faster