21/12/2017 (Agence Europe) – On Wednesday 20 December, member states’ ambassadors to the EU, meeting at Coreper, confirmed the inter-institutional agreement reached a week earlier on the fifth anti-money laundering directive (see EUROPE 11927). Amongst other things, the text introduces transparency on beneficial owners (public for companies and to individuals with a legitimate interest for trusts). Other measures have been brought in to cut off the financing of terrorism, for instance, with regard to virtual currencies and prepaid cards. The agreement is still to be validated in plenary by the European Parliament and is expected to be published in the Official Journal of the EU in the spring for transposition by the end of 2019. (EL)