Brussels, 23/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 23 November, the French minister, Michel Sapin, called for the application of the fourth European directive (849/2015) against money laundering and the financing of terrorism to be speeded up “considerably”. By request of France, the Ecofin Council will take stock of the implementation of this legislative text in December.
This directive, which was formally adopted in the spring, is to be applied in the European Union from 2017. It stipulates the creation of national central registers compiling the identity of the beneficial owners of certain types of businesses ('trusts') (see EUROPE 11318). The central registers will be accessible without restriction to the competent authorities and their financial intelligence cells, and to all individuals with a 'legitimate interest' (for instance journalists).
On the international work in this field, Sapin called for “more subtle” work of the Financial Action Task Force on money laundering (FATF), the specialist body of the OECD. “So far, the FATF blacklist has just two states, Iran and North Korea”, he noted, reported by AFP. The minister also called for Europeans to have better access to bank data on TFTP/SWIFT transactions, a system which is essentially controlled by the United States.
The French government has incidentally presented new measures to step up the powers of its Tracfin cell, which fights money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Under the new rules, this cell will have access, in some cases simply increased, to certain files (wanted persons, legal precedents) and may flag up certain suspect individuals to banks.
Lastly, the rules on the use of pre-paid bank cards, which are believed to have had a part to play in preparations for the Paris attacks, will be tightened up. At the moment, it is possible to use pre-paid cards in France with no identity checks up to the amount of €250 for non-top-up cards, and up to €2,500 a year for top-up cards. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)