Recent terrorist attacks in France have shined a new light on the ease of terrorists moving money and people within the European Union. And now France and Germany are calling on the European Commission to get tougher on terrorist financing.
One of the big benefits to the creation of the EU was the easing of trade and travel among European nations, but that freedom of movement has had a dark side, as well. The Wall Street Journal reported in late March that France and Germany want the European Commission to immediately focus on tracking the flow of money and freezing assets of known terrorists.
Currently, the lack of border controls on the movement of goods and people allow terrorists living in one of the EU countries to move freely among any of the countries.
After the Charlie Hebdo attacks in France and the discovery of other terrorist activities, there is new emphasis on strengthening reporting requirements and tracking of sales involving precious stones, gold, ancient artifacts, virtual currencies, and prepaid cards—all of which are popular sources of terrorist financing.
AML Partners CEO Frank Cummings said that a comprehensive AML-CTF approach is part of the solution to tracking the movement of money and identifying behavior that indicates criminal or terrorist activity.
“As part of a fully integrated counter-terrorist policy, the combination of customer due diligence (CDD – KYC) with the processing of ultimate beneficial owners along with sanctions screening and negative-news screening will assist in the detection and reporting of these types of criminal activity,” Cummings said.
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