“The EU's hands-off approach towards dirty money has only yielded scandals. The time has come for a crackdown.”
This isn’t a quote from an op-ed criticizing the EU’s efforts to tackle financial crime. It is from a March 2023 press release by the European Parliament itself.
Around 90% of the biggest European banks have been penalized for some sort of money laundering offenses between 2008 and 2018. The record fines imposed on several European Tier 1 banks for shortcomings in their AML measures remain fresh in the minds of European compliance officers.
Yet, as the statement above shows, the EU considers its efforts insufficient and is looking to strengthen controls further. Even Switzerland, with its reputation as the leading tax haven for offshore banking activities, is now adopting sweeping measures to clamp down on money laundering.
As a result, banks will have more compliance boxes to check.
Automated anti-money laundering (AML) solutions are proving invaluable for building compliant flows, ensuring that you will be timely notified if you are serving a high-risk client. However, they don’t have to serve only as a warning system. Just the opposite - AML solutions should go beyond traditional screening to unlock added value for your organization.
