Diritto ed Economia dell'ImpresaISSN 2499-3158
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02/07/2019 - Anti-money laundering: Europe changes the measures to reduce risks in “opaque” third countries

argomento: News del mese - Diritto Internazionale e Comunitario

Articoli Correlati: Anti-money laundering -

On May 14, 2019, the delegated Regulation 2019/758 was published in the E.U. Official Journal and will be applicable in all member States starting September 3. It complements Directive 2015/849 (IV Anti-Money Laundering Directive) and establishes certain measures relating to controls anti-money laundering that credit institutions and financial institutions are required to apply if they operate in third countries, if these prevent the implementation of group anti-money laundering procedures. In particular, the Regulation establishes some additional measures, including the minimum action that credit and financial institutions must take to effectively address the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing.
The measures envisaged range from the acquisition of specific customer consent to the renunciation of the occasional transaction or ongoing relationship and are graduated according to the risk criterion. Among other things, European banking groups are set up with branches in third countries where the legislation limits the group’s ability to access information on client companies, specific requirements to mitigate the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing. The actions to be taken range from the acquisition of the specific consent of the customers, to the interruption of the relationships that do not allow an adequate monitoring of the risk or the exchange of information, until the closure of the branches.