The Netherlands and France want an independent European supervisor in the fight against money laundering of criminal money. The Hague and Paris have been looking for a coalition with like-minded countries for some time, because money laundering and financial fraud are cross-border problems.
The EU has been shaken in recent years by several major money laundering scandals, including at ING and Danske Bank. Supervision of money transactions is currently regulated at the national level within the EU, but there is no central supervision. In the Netherlands, the authority lies with De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB).
At the end of last year, a proposal was withdrawn to expand the existing European Banking Authority (EBA) to oversee the full enforcement of anti-money laundering laws, but no agreement was reached then. Now behind the scenes work is underway on a smaller EU department for bank supervision. It is also not excluded that this supervision will fall under the new EU public prosecutor.
Dutch bank chief Ralph Hamers of ING is a strong advocate for a European anti-money laundering authority. According to him, the current national approach to combating financial crime is ineffective. He says that criminal activity does not stop at a particular bank and certainly not at a border.
The Dutch banker Hamers preferably envisions a European policy whereby banks and investigative agencies cooperate across borders under the supervision of a European body. ING itself was fined 775 million euros last year due to a failing money laundering approach.