Angelika Hellweger of financial crime specialists Rahman Ravelli
outlines the changes Germany plans to make to how it tackles
money laundering.
The German federal government has approved a draft law to create
an
anti-money laundering (AML) super agency and a money laundering
investigation centre within it. It is now up the second chamber of
the legislature, the Bundesrat, to approve this
draft.1
If the bill becomes law, all essential public sector AML
functions - analysis, criminal investigation and supervision
– will be the responsibility of the new Federal Financial
Crime Agency (FFCA).
The move is an attempt to remove problems caused by what is seen
as the current fragmented nature of Germany's AML agencies. It
can be viewed as a significant step in fighting money laundering in
the wake of numerous scandals that have taken place; including the
problems at Deutsche Bank.
