Money laundering

EU to tighten rules on money laundering after Latvia scandal
Brussels has moved to toughen enforcement of its rules against money laundering, saying greater cross-border co-ordination was needed to track terror suspects and prevent a repeat of scandals seen in banks from Latvia to Malta. The European Commission on Tuesday proposed ways to remove bottlenecks in sharing of bank account data among law enforcement authorities, including when the information was held by another EU member state. The plans would seek better co-operation among the national financial intelligence units responsible for policing suspicious transactions, setting a standard three-day deadline for them to respond to requests from counterparts in other EU countries. The draft law would also simplify law enforcement authorities’ access to national registers of bank account holders, tackling what officials say is an uneven patchwork of national rules.