EU Commission Proposes Expanding EBA Antimoney Laundering Mandate

The EU Commission is proposing measures to increase financial sector supervision in the wake of money laundering incidents.

The European Commission recently proposed expanding the Europe Banking Authority's ("EBA") mandate and entrusting it with financial sector anti-money laundering ("AML") responsibilities.

The proposal was in response to recent cases of money laundering in European banks, some amounting to hundreds of billions of euros. These cases illuminated weaknesses and gaps in the legislative framework implemented by the EU's network of supervisors. Three specific issues standout:

• Supervisory action to tackle weaknesses in the AML risk management efforts of financial institutions is delayed and insufficient;