Out-Law News 1 min. read
28 Apr 2015, 3:26 pm
Earlier this month, the EU's Council of Ministers gave its support to a new EU AML Directive which would, among other things, impose new rules on customer due diligence checks, the reporting of suspicious transactions, payments record keeping and internal AML controls.
Banks and other financial institutions would be impacted by the new rules. Gambling operators are also likely to be subject to the Directive, gambling regulation and licensing experts at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said at the time.
The Council of Ministers' proposals have now won support from the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs at the European Parliament. In a new resolution, the committees urged the next procedural steps to be taken to finalise the AML Directive.
Financial services litigation and compliance expert Michael Ruck of Pinsent Masons previously said a greater number of firms and traders will find themselves subject to the new anti-money laundering regime if the Council proposals are introduced, as a result of moves to lower the financial threshold for cash payments set for when the rules would apply.
"The €10,000 limit will now bring many firms within the regulations who previously may never have even considered the potential for them to be part of the regulated sector for the purposes of money laundering and subject to the various requirements this in turn imposes," Ruck said.
"Many firms will need to register for the purposes of the money laundering regime, undertake due diligence, appoint a money laundering reporting officer, introduce training and put record keeping policies in place," he said.
Banks that fail to conduct customer due diligence checks, report suspicious transactions, maintain records of payments or fail to install internal controls in line with new AML rules could face fines of up to at least €5 million or 10% of their annual turnover under the Directive.